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Carex vulpinoidea - (image 1 of 6)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Multiflorae

Habitat

Common on wet, open ground.

Associates

Distribution

Newfoundland to FL, west to British Columbia, WA, and AZ.

Morphology

Stems stout, tufted, to 1 m; aphyllopodic. Leaves restricted to the lower 1/2 or 2/3 of the stem, mostly flat, 2-5 mm wide; ventral side of sheaths dotted with red and corrugated. Inflorescence compound towards the base, dense above, often interrupted, to 10 cm long and 1.5 cm wide; spikes androgynous, crowded, sessile, small and few-flowered; bracts small, setaceous, the lowest to 5 cm long; pistillate scales slender, with an awn 1-5 mm long; perigynia flattened to planoconvex, greenish to light brown, 2-3.5 mm, ovate to rotund-ovate, mostly nerveless, serrulate-margined toward the tip. Achene lenticular; stigmas 2.

Notes

Flowers May to June

Wetland indicator: Obligate

Differs from other "fox sedges" in that the pistillate scales have a distinct awn and perigynia that are rounded at the base and scarcely spongy. The other fox sedges (section Vulpinae) have awnless pistillate scales, or if awned than the perigynia with a distinctly spongy and broad, subtruncate base.

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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