Taxonomy
Family: Cyperaceae
Section Porocystis
Synonymous with Carex complanata var. hirsuta (L.H. Bailey) Gleason
Habitat
Moist to more often dry open woods, fields and meadows on neutral to basic soil. Seems to like some disturbance.
Associates
Distribution
ME to FL, west to MI, IA, TX, and Mexico.
Morphology
Tufted perennial to 0.9 m. Leaves 2-4 mm wide, somewhat involute, hairy; sheaths green to red-brown, hairy; spikes cylindrical, terminal spike gynaecandrous, 1-2 cm long and 5 mm thick; perigynia ascending, smooth, greenish, faintly nerved, obovoid, flattened on the ventral side, 2-3 mm long, beakless but with minute pointed tip; scales brownish-hyaline with green midnerve, shorter than perigynia; achene trigonous; stigmas 3.
Notes
Fruiting May to June
Wetland indicator: UPL
Unlike other sedges with hairy leaves and culms, such as Carex hirtifolia and C. swanii, this species has smooth rather than hairy perigynia. Two other species in this section with both hairy sheaths and smooth perigynia are C. caroliniana (sheath glabrous ventrally) and C. bushii (sheath hairy throughout), both of which have spreading perigynia with short-pointed tips and conspicuous nerves.
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.
© Michael Hough 2010 |