89. Carex arkansana (L.H. Bailey) L.H.
Bailey
Pl. 55 a–e; Map 205
Plants with poorly developed rhizomes,
forming tufts or small clumps. Flowering stems 15–60 cm long, shorter than to
mostly longer than the leaves. Leaf blades 2–25 cm long, 1.0–2.5 mm wide, green
to light green. Leaf sheaths tight around the stem, the ventral side relatively
firm and without cross-wrinkles, usually remaining intact at maturity, the
dorsal side green, lacking white areas or mottling, the ligule wider than long
and U-shaped. Inflorescence mostly elongate, the 3–6 spikes easily
distinguished, at least the lowermost well separated along the axis, the
uppermost sometimes densely overlapping, the lowermost bracts 50–250 mm long,
more than twice as long as the inflorescence, hairlike with the basal portion
somewhat broadened. Spikes 6–12 mm long, 7–12 mm wide, with 8–20 ascending to
mostly spreading perigynia, the scales 2.0–3.5 mm long, shorter than to about
as long as the perigynia, ovate, the tip tapered to a sharp point and often
short-awned. Perigynia 3.3–4.0 mm long, 2.3–3.0 mm wide, 1.5–2.0 times as long
as wide, elliptic-ovate in outline, the tip with a short beak with minutely
toothed or roughened margins, the base rounded, the basal portion more or less
thickened with corky to spongy tissue, light green, the ventral surface
nerveless or with 2–4 faint nerves (sometimes somewhat wrinkled), the dorsal
surface nerveless. Stigmas relatively short, slender, mostly straight. Fruits
1.5–2.2 mm long, ovate to nearly circular in outline. May–June.
Uncommon in widely scattered counties in
the southern third of the state and disjunctly in north-central Missouri (Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas). Bottomland prairies
and moist depressions of upland prairies; less commonly in openings of mesic
upland forests; also in disturbed grassy areas and along roadsides.