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Carex oligocarpa - (image 1 of 2)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Grisaea

Habitat

Moist to mesic, often rocky woods, typically in lime rich loam.

Associates

Distribution

MA, VT, southern Quebec, and Ontario to MN, south to FL and TX.

Morphology

Tufted perennial; stems 20-80 cm, purplish at the base; leaves 2-4 mm wide; sheaths glabrous; bracts glabrous or rarely minutely granular-puberulent; staminate spike 1-3 cm, on a peduncle about as long as the uppermost pistillate spike; pistillate spikes 2-4, 5-20 mm, very loosely flowered; pistillate scales ovate, 3-6 mm, all or at least the lower with an awn longer than the body and usually longer than the perigynia; perigynia 7-12, alternately arranged, fusiform or slenderly ellipsoid, 3.5-5.4 mm, nearly straight, tapering almost equally to both ends, finely many-nerved; achene trigonous, filling the perigynium, with a minute straight beak.

Notes

Fruiting May to July

Wetland indicator: NA

The perigynia of specimens often turn a reddish-brown color after drying.

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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