Carex tenera Dewey - Quill Sedge


 

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Carex tenera - (image 1 of 6)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

 

Section Ovales

Habitat

Moist to wet soil, meadows, thickets.

Associates

 

Distribution

Quebec and ME to NC, west to MO, SD, and MT.

Morphology

Tufted perennial to 90 cm; aphyllopodic; leaves 1.5-2.5 mm wide, lax and elongate, sheaths hyaline ventrally; spikes stout, mostly 4-8, gynaecandrous, to 8 mm, sessile in a moniliform or interrupted spike 1.5-5 cm long; pistillate scales shorter and narrow than perigynia; perigynia crowded, ascending, ovate, planoconvex or flattened, usually less than 2.5 times as long as wide, the beaks protruding from the spike; achene lenticular, 1.3-2.1 mm long and 0.9-1.3 mm wide; stigmas 2.

Notes

Fruiting June to July

Wetland indicator: FAC

Similar to Carex bebbii which typically  has narrower achenes (<0.8 mm) and perigynia (sometimes over 2.5 time as long as wide).

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