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Carex conjuncta - (image 1 of 7)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Vulpinae

Habitat

Low wet prairies, wet woods, meadows, borders of tidal marshes, stream banks.

Associates

Distribution

NY to MN and SD, south to VA and eastern KA.

Morphology

Stems clustered, thick, winged, sharp-angled, to 80 cm long and 2-4 mm thick. Leaves soft, 5-10 mm wide, about equaling the stems, margin and midvein rough below; sheaths loose, cross-corrugate ventrally, easily split, convex at the summit, septate on the back; ligules longer than wide. Inflorescence slender, 2-5 cm, compound, the lower branches distinct; scales ovate-triangular, about equaling the perigynia; perigynia green or somewhat stramineous, planoconvex, ovate, to 4 mm long and 2 mm wide, rounded at the spongy base, nerveless or nearly so ventrally, sharply 3-5 nerved dorsally, tapering to a rough beak half as long as the body. Achene lenticular, ovate; stigmas 3.

Notes

Fruiting June

Wetland indicator: FACW

This species is endangered in NY which leads me to believe that I may have misidentified the plants in these pictures (although it is known to occur two counties away); it also did not key out very neatly and I had some trouble grasping the nuances of the descriptions of the sheaths. Apparently similar to C. stipata which has firmer sheaths and lanceolate perigynia that mature to yellow-brown.

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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