65. Carex molesta Mack.

Pl. 47 n–s; Map 181

Plants with short, inconspicuous rhizomes, forming tufts or clumps. Vegetative stems shorter than the flowering stems and developing late in the season, the leaves clustered near the tip. Flowering stems 25–100 cm long, much longer than the leaves. Leaves with well-developed blades mostly 3–7 per flowering stem. Leaf blades 2–30 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, light green to green. Leaf sheaths often extended past the insertion point of the leaf blade, the ventral side white to light yellow, papery, the tip truncate to somewhat concave, the ligule mostly wider than long and U-shaped. Inflorescence mostly stiffly erect, the 2–5 spikes densely overlapping along the axis, the lowermost spike sometimes more loosely spaced, the internode between the lowermost spikes mostly 2.5–6.0 mm long. Spikes 6–15 mm long, 5–10 mm wide, the pistillate portion circular to broadly ovate or obovate in outline, rounded at both ends, with usually numerous perigynia with ascending or more commonly spreading tips, the staminate portion usually inconspicuous. Scales 2.5–5.0 mm long, shorter and narrower than, but not hidden by the perigynia, narrowly ovate, rounded to bluntly pointed, white to light yellowish brown with a green or pale brown midrib. Perigynia 3.4–5.4 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, 1.3–1.8 times as long as wide, flat to slightly concave on the ventral side and somewhat convex on the dorsal side, the main body as long as wide or slightly longer than wide, broadly ovate-elliptic, widest at or below the middle, broadly winged to the base, rounded gradually to a beak with toothed or roughened margins, the wing extending to the tip of the beak, the ventral and dorsal surfaces lacking papillae, sharply 3–7-nerved on the ventral surface and finely 6–11-nerved on the dorsal surface, pale brown to light tan. Fruits 1.2–2.0 mm long, 0.9–1.3 mm wide, 1.3–1.6 times as long as wide, elliptic to narrowly oblong in outline, light brown to brown. 2n=68. May–July.

Scattered nearly throughout Missouri, but apparently absent from the Mississippi Lowlands Division (eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to Kansas, Arkansas, and Mississippi). Bottomland prairies, moist depressions of upland prairies, bottomland forests, mesic upland forests, banks of streams, and margins of ponds; also pastures, ditches, and moist, disturbed areas.

Carex molesta seems to tolerate disturbance more than the other native members of section Ovales. It occurs in a wide range of habitats ranging from relatively dry to wet. For a discussion of the differences between this species and the closely related C. molestiformis, see the treatment of that species.