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Carex crawei - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Granulares

Habitat

Calcareous wet meadows, shores, fens, rock ledges, limestone pavements.

Associates

Distribution

Quebec to British Columbia, south to NJ, TN, AL, and AR.

Morphology

Perennial, solitary or loosely clustered on long rhizomes; stems stiff, 10-30 cm; leaves thick, stiff, pale green, 1-4 mm wide, usually curved or recurved; terminal spike staminate, 1-2 cm, on an elongate peduncle, overtopping the pistillate spike and usually the bracts; pistillate spikes 2-4, the lowest nearly basal, on short-exsert peduncles, the upper shorter-pedunculate or subsessile, short-cylindric, 1-1.5 cm; pistillate scales triangular ovate, much shorter than the perigynia, acute, acuminate or short-cuspidate; perigynia crowded in several rows, ovoid to ellipsoid, 2.1-3.5 mm, sharply or obscurely nerved, rather abruptly tapering into a very short, straight beak.

Notes

Fruiting late May to July

Wetland indicator: FACW

Rare in NY, found primarily in the northern part of the state on alvars. Similar to C. granularis which grows in the same habitats and has a terminal spike that is sessile or nearly so, wider leaves, and much shorter rhizomes.

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

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