Carex bullata Schkuhr ex Willd. - Button Sedge


 

|  back  | forward |

Carex bullata - (image 1 of 3)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

 

Section Vesicariae

Habitat

Acid swamps and bogs, peaty or sandy shores.

Associates

 

Distribution

Mainly on the coastal plain from Nova Scotia to GA.

Morphology

Tufted perennial from long, stout, creeping rhizomes; stems slender, 30-90 cm, sharply trigonous and roughened distally; leaves 2-5 mm wide; staminate spikes 1-3 on a long common peduncle surpassing the uppermost pistillate spike; pistillate spikes 1-2, well separated, 1.5-4 cm long and 1.5-2 cm thick; perigynia ascending or spreading, green or stramineous, closely imbricate, broadly ovoid, 6-9 mm long and 2.5-3 mm wide, abruptly contracted to a stout, rough-margined beak 2.4-4.2(-4.8) mm long, with straight slender teeth 0.5-1.4 mm long; achenes brown, symmetrical, trigonous, smooth.

Notes

Fruiting June to August

Wetland indicator: OBL

Similar to C. utriculata but with pistillate spikes that are usually shorter in length and perigynia with longer beaks that are scabrous distally. Photographed in southern NJ.

References

Ball, P.W. and A.A. Reznicek. 2002. Carex, In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, Eds. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 23. Oxford University Press, New York.

 

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

 


Home

 

© Michael Hough 2018