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Carex arctata - (image 1 of 6)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Hymenochlaenae     

Habitat

North facing slopes of rich, mesic woods or upland flats in beech forests.

Associates

Distribution

Newfoundland west to MN, south to PA and OH.

Morphology

Stems tufted, to 80 cm, purplish at the base. Leaves glabrous, those of fertile shoots 3-5 mm wide; leaves of sterile shoots 3-8 mm wide. Pistillate spikes 3-5, linear, slender, loosely flowered, 2-6 cm; perigynia trigonous, 2-ribbed, 3.2-4.8 mm, glabrous, sessile, narrowed to a short beak. Achene trigonous, sessile in the base of the perigynium.

Notes

Fruiting May to July

Wetland indicator: UPL

Also called Dropping Woodland Sedge. The specific epithet means "of the arctic". 

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Wisconsin Plants web site (http://wisplants.uwsp.edu)

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

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