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Carex disperma - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Bracteosae   

Habitat

Shaded bogs, wet woods.

Associates

Distribution

Circumboreal, south to PA, IN, MN, UT, and CA.

Morphology

Stems soft, slender, to 40 cm, scattered on slender, branching rhizomes. Leaves flat, to 2 mm wide. Spikes 2-5, sessile, 3-6 mm; staminate flowers terminal, 1-3; perigynia 1-4; bract lacking or filiform to 2 cm; scales triagular-ovate, stramineous to white-hyaline, midrib green, typically shorter than the perigynia; perigynia ellipsoid, 2-3 mm, white-punctate, nearly round in cross-section, with 2 strong nerves at the margins, beak minute (0.2 mm). Achene thick, lenticular, filling the perigyniuym, the style base semipersitent as a slender apiculus.

Notes

Flowers June to July

Wetland indicator: Obligate

The specific epithet refers to the tendency for the perigynia to be borne in pairs on the spikes. 

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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