Taxonomy
Family: Cyperaceae
Section Porocystis
Habitat
Moist woods and meadows.
Associates
Distribution
Newfoundland to WI, south to NJ and OH.
Morphology
Stems tufted, to 50 cm; leaves 2-4 mm wide, soft-hairy below and on the sheaths, or more or less glabrous; terminal spike peduncled, staminate, 1-2 cm; pistillate spikes 2-4, crowded, short-cylindric, 8-15 mm; lower spike on a short peduncle, the upper nearly sessile; lower bracts surpassing the inflorescence, the upper much smaller; anthers 1.7-2.8 mm; pistillate scales ovate, about equaling the perigynia, pale green and somewhat brown-tinged, acute to cuspidate; perigynia ascending, ellipsoid, 2.2-2.8, nearly round in section, obscurely and finely nerved, beakless, obtuse; achene concavely trigonous; stigmas 3.
Notes
Fruiting June to July
Wetland indicator: FAC
In the same section as Carex hirsutella, and C. swanii, but unlike them this species has a terminal spike that is wholly staminate. Carex torreyi also has a staminate spike but its perigynia are more conspicuously nerved, beaked and ovoid.
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.
© Michael Hough 2010 |