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.