Carex eburnea Boott - Ivory Sedge


 

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Carex eburnea - (image 1 of 3)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

 

Section Albae   

Habitat

Open calcareous woods, alvar, ledges.

Associates

 

Distribution

Newfoundland to British Columbia, south to VA, AL, NE, and TX.

Morphology

Densely tufted with long, slender rhizomes; stems thin, to 30 cm. Leaves shorter than stems, involute, to 0.5 mm; spikes subtended by short bladeless sheaths; pistillate spikes 2-3, 3-6 mm long, 2-6 flowered, on long erect peduncles exceeding the terminal staminate spikes; bracts of pistillate spikes bladeless, consisting of sheath only; pistillate scales ovate, shorter than perigynia, pale with a narrow green midvein; perigynium beakless, starting green and becoming dark brown, 1.5-2 mm, few-nerved, smooth, filled by the achene, with a conic beak 0.2 mm; staminate spike sessile; leaf blades under 2 mm wide, perigynia 1.5-2 mm, beakless; achene trigonous; stigmas 3; style deciduous.

Notes

Fruiting late May to July

Wetland indicator: FACU

The specific epithet mean "ivory", possibly in reference to the white-hyaline margins of the scales.

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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© Michael Hough 2010