105. Carex bushii Mack.
Pl. 59 f–i; Map 221
Vegetative stems short.
Flowering stems 30–90 cm long, erect or nearly so, sparsely hairy, more or less
reddish tinged at the base. Leaves shorter than to longer than the stems. Leaf
blades 2–30 cm long, 1.5–4.0 mm wide, hairy on both surfaces or sometimes
sparsely hairy to nearly glabrous except at the base, flat, green. Leaf sheaths
densely hairy, green, often somewhat reddish tinged at the tip, the ligule
about as long as wide and U-shaped. Terminal spike 12–22 mm long, 4.5–11.0 mm
wide. Lateral spikes usually densely clustered near the tip of the axis, 5–16
mm long, 4.5–11.0 mm wide, sessile or nearly so, erect to ascending, with 15–40
dense perigynia. Staminate scales 3.2–5.2 mm long, lanceolate, tapered to a
usually awned tip, light brown with a green midrib and lighter margins, often
somewhat reddish tinged. Pistillate scales 3–6 mm long, longer than the
perigynia, lanceolate, the tip tapered to a spreading awn 0.5–2.0 mm long,
reddish brown with a green midrib and lighter margins, usually sparsely hairy.
Perigynia 2.4–3.5 mm long, spreading, obovate in outline, bluntly trigonous to
nearly circular in cross-section and somewhat inflated, narrowed to a beakless
tip, narrowed to a thick, short, stalklike base, the surface with 9–13 strong
nerves, minutely pebbled, olive green. Fruits 2.0–2.6 mm long, obovate in
outline, the very short beak bent to the side. 2n=64. May–July.
Common nearly
throughout Missouri, but apparently absent from the northwestern corner of the
state and the Mississippi Lowlands Division (eastern U.S. from Massachusetts to
Georgia west to Wisconsin and Texas). Bottomland prairies, upland prairies,
openings of mesic and dry upland forests, and margins of ponds; also ditches,
railroads, roadsides, old fields, pastures, and disturbed, open ground.