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Carex stipata - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Vulpinae

Habitat

Low open ground.

Associates

Distribution

Newfoundland to AK, south to FL, NM, and CA.

Morphology

Stems to 1 m, stout, clustered, spongy, with 3-6 leaves, sharply angled and winged; leaves yellow-green, 5-10 mm wide, flat, margin scabrous; sheaths corrugate, ventrally thin, prolonged at the summit; inflorescence 1-3 x 3-10 cm; spikes numerous, androgynous, few-flowered, small, bracts thin and curved; scales short cuspidate, much shorter than perigynia; perigynia 4-6 mm long, greenish or somewhat stramineous, spongy-thickened at the base, gradually narrowing from the base to the tip, widely spreading; achene lenticular; stigmas 2.

Notes

Fruiting June to August

Wetland indicator: OBL

Also called Saw-beak Sedge. An odd common name that may have originated from a typo on the USDA PLANTS website is owlfruit sedge.

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.

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