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Published In: Das Pflanzenreich IV. 20(Heft 38): 516. 1909. (Pflanzenr.) Name publication detail
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 9/1/2009)
Acceptance : Accepted
 

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11. Section Griseae L.H. Bailey

(Naczi, 1992)

Plants monoecious, without noticeable rhizomes or with short, poorly developed rhizomes, forming tufts or clumps. Vegetative stems usually present, well developed, leafy, the leaves about as wide as or slightly wider than those of flowering stems. Flowering stems erect to spreading, glabrous, often minutely roughened on the angles. Leaves basal or on the basal half of the stems, glabrous or the leaf sheaths hairy, the lowermost reduced to nearly bladeless sheaths. Leaf sheaths with the tip shallowly concave to convex, the ligule longer than wide and V-shaped, the ventral side usually thin, papery, white. Spikes (2–)3–6 per stem, the bracts leaflike, with well-developed sheaths. Terminal spike staminate, linear to narrowly oblanceolate in outline. Lateral spikes pistillate, sometimes the uppermost with a few staminate flowers at the tip, loosely spaced along the upper 1/4–1/2 of the stem, none basal, ovate to narrowly oblong-elliptic in outline, with 3–40 perigynia. Perigynia trigonous to nearly circular in cross-section, the sides flat or rounded, usually with 2 prominent, longitudinal ribs, otherwise with numerous fine, impressed nerves, beakless or with a short, smooth beak, this straight or nearly so and truncate or oblique at the tip without teeth, rounded at the base but sometimes with a short stalk, the surface smooth or minutely roughened. Styles withering during fruit development, jointed to the main body of the fruit, which is not or minutely beaked at maturity. Stigmas 3. Fruits obovate in outline, trigonous in cross-section with concave to slightly rounded sides, yellowish brown to brown. About 20 species, eastern U.S., Canada, Mexico.

The name Griseae has priority over the often-used Oligocarpae (Heuff.) Mack. at the sectional rank when the C. amphibola and C. oligocarpa complexes are treated in a single section, as is done here. Some of the species in this section can be difficult to distinguish. Perigynium shape and orientation in the spikes are most easily observed in fresh rather than pressed material and should be noted in the field. However, the impressed nerves on the perigynia that separate the group from the morphologically similar Laxiflorae are more easily seen in dried specimens.

 

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1 Leaf sheaths short-hairy 32 Carex hitchcockiana
+ Leaf sheaths glabrous (sometimes minutely roughened along the margins) (2)
2 (1) Spikes with the stalks roughened; perigynia with 17–25 nerves 27 Carex conoidea
+ Spikes with the stalks smooth; perigynia with more than 40 nerves (3)
3 (2) Plants silvery gray to grayish green, glaucous (4)
+ Plants light green to dark green, not glaucous (5)
4 (3) Perigynia 4.0–5.5 mm long, more than twice as long as the main body of the fruit; fruits with the minute beak straight or nearly so 29 Carex flaccosperma
+ Perigynia 3.2–4.5 mm long, less than twice as long as the main body of the fruit; fruits with the minute beak noticeably bent 30 Carex glaucodea
5 (3) Spikes with the perigynia 2-ranked, on opposite sides of the axis; lowermost pistillate scales with the bodies much shorter than the associated perigynia (6)
+ Spikes with the perigynia several-ranked, in a spiral pattern around the axis; lowermost pistillate scales with the bodies as long as or longer than the associated perigynia (7)
6 (5) Perigynia 3.5–4.2 mm long, less than twice as long as the main body of the fruit; fruits with the beak 0.1–0.5 mm long 33 Carex oligocarpa
+ Perigynia 4.2–5.1 mm long, more than twice as long as the main body of the fruit; fruits with the beak 0.4–0.7 mm long 34 Carex planispicata
7 (5) Perigynia 2.0–2.6 mm wide at maturity, circular in cross-section or nearly so; main body of the fruits (excluding beak and stalklike base) 2.2–3.0 mm long 31 Carex grisea
+ Perigynia 1.5–2.3 mm wide at maturity, bluntly triangular in cross-section; main body of the fruits (excluding beak and stalklike base) 1.8–2.3 mm long (8)
8 (7) Perigynia 4.2–5.2 mm long, 2.5–3.0 times as long as wide 26 Carex amphibola
+ Perigynia 3.5–4.5 mm long, 1.8–2.4 times as long as wide 28 Carex corrugata
 
 
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