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Carex disperma - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Dispermae   

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 triangular-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 perigynium, the style base semi-persistent as a slender apiculus.

Notes

Fruiting May to August

Wetland indicator: OBL

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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