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Carex crawfordii - (image 1 of 7)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Ovales

Habitat

Wet soils, meadows, swamps, shores.

Associates

Distribution

Newfoundland to British Columbia, south to NJ, MI, MN, and WA.

Morphology

Tufted perennial to 70 cm; aphyllopodic; leaves 1-3 mm wide, shorter than stems, sheaths hyaline ventrally; spikes 5-12, gynaecandrous, to 10 mm, sessile in a compact spike 1.5-3 cm; pistillate scales shorter and narrow than perigynia, perigynia appressed-ascending, planoconvex, not much wider than the achene, to 1 mm wide and 4 mm long, 3.5 to 5 times as long as wide, few-nerved on both sides, with a narrow winged margin; beak slender, terete at the tip; achene lenticular, to 0.7 m wide and 1.3 mm long; stigmas 2.

Notes

Fruiting late May to July

Wetland indicator: FACW

Closely resembles several other "oval" sedges with narrow achenes (0.5-0.8 mm wide), most easily separated by close examination of the perigynia. Carex scoparia has perigynia 2.5-3 times as long as wide that are strongly flattened and much wider than the achene.

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

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

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