|  back  | forward |

Carex trisperma - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Cyperaceae

Section Glareosae

Habitat

Sphagnum bogs, wet woods.

Associates

Distribution

Greenland to British Columbia, south to MD, WV, IL, and MN.

Morphology

In loose tufts on short, slender rhizomes; stems slender and weak, to 70 cm; leaves typically 1-3 mm wide; spikes 1-3, sessile, 1-4 cm apart in a slender, often flexuous culm, each with a few basal staminate flowers and typically 2-5 perigynia; bract of the lowest spike setaceous, 2-4 cm; scales ovate, acute, hyaline with a green midnerve, shorter than or about equaling the perigynia; perigynia thick, planoconvex, oval, 2.6-4 mm, with many fine nerves; beak slender, smooth, 0.5 mm; achene trigonous, oval-oblong, filling the perigynium; stigmas 3.

Notes

Fruiting June to August

Wetland indicator: OBL

Pretty easy to recognize from its long, wiry stems and rather sparse spikes. Plants with leaves less than 0.5 mm wide and with only 1 or 2 smaller perigynia are var. billingsii, found near the coast from Newfoundland to VT and PA.

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

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

Home