39. Carex gracillima Schwein.

Pl. 40 e–h; Map 155

Plants with the rhizomes absent or short-creeping, forming dense tufts or clumps, the sheaths of previous season’s basal leaves sometimes persisting and becoming more or less dissected into hairlike fibers. Vegetative stems well developed, with several leaves. Flowering stems 20–90 cm long, mostly longer than the leaves, sharply trigonous, glabrous, smooth, strongly purplish tinged at the base. Lowermost leaves reduced to nearly bladeless sheaths. Leaf blades 1–35 cm long, 3–8 mm wide, green to dark green, flat, glabrous. Leaf sheaths concave at the tip, glabrous or somewhat hairy only on the dorsal side, the ligule wider than long and U-shaped, the ventral side thin and white to yellow-brown tinged, often with inconspicuous reddish purple spots or streaks, the lowermost sheath bases strongly purplish tinged. Terminal spike mostly staminate, but usually with few to several pistillate flowers toward the tip, the 3–5 lateral spikes pistillate. Terminal spikes 10–40 mm long, linear to narrowly oblanceolate in outline, the staminate scales 2.4–3.0 mm long, broadly lanceolate, pointed to short-awned at the tip, white with a green midrib. Pistillate spikes 10–60 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, short- to long-stalked, erect to more commonly nodding or drooping, the scales 1.4–2.5 mm long, ovate to obovate, mostly rounded at the tip, sometimes with a very short awn or point, white or straw-colored, with a green midrib. Perigynia 2.4–3.7 mm long, 1.3–1.6 mm wide, oblong-ovate in outline, bluntly trigonous in cross-section, tapered to a bluntly pointed, beakless tip, rounded or more commonly tapered to a stalklike base, the sides with several nerves, green to dark green. Fruits 1.2–1.7 mm long, yellowish brown, with deeply concave sides and blunt, somewhat thickened angles, the short beak straight or nearly so. 2n=50, 52, 54. May–June.

Uncommon, known only from historical collections from Greene County and St. Louis city and County (eastern [mostly northeastern] U.S. west to Minnesota and Arkansas; Canada). Bottomland forests, margins of streams.