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Carex pauciflora - (image 1 of 2)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Leucoglochin

Habitat

Sphagnum bogs and poor fens.

Associates

Distribution

Circumboreal, south in North America to CT, PA, WV, MI, MN, and WA.

Morphology

Perennial; stems 10-40 cm, solitary or few together from long, slender rhizomes, aphyllopodic; main leaves 1-2 mm wide, shorter than the culm; spike 1, bractless, to 1 cm; staminate scales 2-4, forming a terminal cone; pistillate scales lanceolate, 4-6 mm, pale brown, soon deciduous; perigynia few, mostly 2-6, soon deflexed, deciduous at maturity, light green at first, becoming stramineous or pale brown, finely many-nerved, 6-7.5 mm, slender and long-tapering, spongy at the base, nearly round in cross section; achene trigonous, not filling the perigynium, continuous with the exserted, persistent style; rachilla obsolete.

Notes

Fruiting June to August

Wetland indicator: OBL

Unusual among sedges in that the perigynia are ejected via a catapult mechanism, thus exhibiting ballistic seed dispersal. Easy to identify though often overlooked amongst other bog vegetation.

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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