91. Carex cephalophora Muhl. ex Willd.

Pl. 55 p–u; Map 207

Plants with poorly developed rhizomes, forming tufts or clumps. Flowering stems 20–80 cm long, shorter than to about as long as the leaves. Leaf blades 2–50 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, green to light green, without papillae (sometimes slightly roughened along the midvein). 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 mostly longer than wide and U- or V-shaped. Inflorescence compact, ovate in outline, dense and headlike, the 4–15 spikes difficult to distinguish, the lowermost bracts 4–30(–50) mm long, shorter than to less commonly somewhat longer than the inflorescence, hairlike with the base broadened. Spikes 4–7 mm long, 5–9 mm wide, with 4–20 ascending to spreading perigynia, the scales 1.1–1.8 mm long, about 1/2 as long as the perigynia, ovate to elliptic, the tip sharply pointed and mostly short-awned. Perigynia 2.2–3.3 mm long, 1.4–2.0 mm wide, up to 2 times as long as wide, ovate in outline, widest just below the middle, the tip with a short beak with minutely toothed or roughened margins, the base rounded to broadly narrowed, the basal portion not thickened with corky to spongy tissue, light green to light brown, the ventral surface nerveless or rarely with 1 nerve, the dorsal surface nerveless or with 1–4 nerves. Stigmas relatively short, slender, mostly straight. Fruits 1.0–1.4 mm long, broadly ovate to nearly circular in outline. 2n=48. April–August.

Scattered to common throughout Missouri (eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to Minnesota and Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests, savannas, and upland prairies, less commonly at the base of bluffs; also pastures, roadsides, and railroads.

For a discussion of the separation of this species from the superficially similar C. mesochorea, see the treatment of that species.