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Carex hirsutella - (image 1 of 7)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Porocystis

Synonymous with Carex complanata var. hirsuta (L.H. Bailey) Gleason

Habitat

Moist to more often dry open woods, fields and meadows on neutral to basic soil. Seems to like some disturbance.

Associates

Distribution

ME to FL, west to MI, IA, TX, and Mexico.

Morphology

Tufted perennial to 0.9 m. Leaves 2-4 mm wide, somewhat involute, hairy; sheaths green to red-brown, hairy; spikes cylindrical, terminal spike gynaecandrous, 1-2 cm long and 5 mm thick; perigynia ascending, smooth, greenish, faintly nerved, obovoid, flattened on the ventral side, 2-3 mm long, beakless but with minute pointed tip; scales brownish-hyaline with green midnerve, shorter than perigynia; achene trigonous; stigmas 3.

Notes

Fruiting May to June

Wetland indicator: UPL

Unlike other sedges with hairy leaves and culms, such as Carex hirtifolia and C. swanii, this species has smooth rather than hairy perigynia. Two other species in this section with both hairy sheaths and smooth perigynia are C. caroliniana (sheath glabrous ventrally) and C. bushii (sheath hairy throughout), both of which have spreading perigynia with short-pointed tips and conspicuous nerves.

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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