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Carex bromoides - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Deweyanae

    cespitose habit, gynaecandrous spikes

    perigynia 4-5.5 mm long, narrow, with spongy bases, appressed-ascending, the beak 1-2 mm, sharply bidentate     

Habitat

Wet woods, wet-mesic swamps, bogs

Associates

Distribution

Quebec and Nova Scotia west to Ontario and MN, south to FL and Mexico.

Morphology

Plants in dense tufts (cespitose), from short or occasionally elongate rhizomes, to 80 cm tall; leaves slender, the largest 1.5-3 mm wide; inflorescence slender; spikes gynaecandrous; perigynia 6-15, lanceolate, plano-convex, 0.8-1.2 mm wide and over 4 times as long, strongly nerved dorsally, sometimes only weakly nerved ventrally; scale ovate-oblong, shorter than or equaling the perigynium, pale-brown or tinged orange, acute to short-cuspidate; achene lenticular, narrow, 2 mm.

Notes

Fruiting May to June

Wetland indicator: OBL

An attractive, hummock-forming sedge that gets its name from the resemblance to brome grasses once used to make brooms. The arrangement of the spikes in the thin inflorescence gives it a rather scruffy appearance. Often found on the border of swamps. 

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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