|  back  | forward |

Carex crinita - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Habitat

Peaty marshes, wet woods, swales, moist thickets.

Associates

Distribution

Newfoundland and Quebec west to MN, south to GA and TX.

Morphology

Tufted, perennial to 1.6 m. Stems sharp-angled and rough, exceeding the leaves, lower leaves scale-like. Leaves 4-12 mm wide with rough margins; sheaths glabrous. Staminate spikes 2-3, terminal, 4-6 cm long, sometimes pistillate distally; pistillate spikes 2-6, thin, nodding, long-awned, up to 10 cm long; perigynia obovoid, sometimes inflated, 2-4 mm long, a little longer than wide, unnerved with a pointed tip; scales coppery with a pale midrib extending into a long, flat awn exceeding the perigynia.

Notes

Flowers May.

Wetland indicator: Obligate

Recognized for the slender, nodding spikelets and long awns that exceed the perigynia. 

References

Curtis, L. 2006. Woodland Carex of the upper Midwest. Lake Villa, IL.

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.

Home