36. Carex cherokeensis Schwein. (wolftail)
Pl. 40 m–p; Map 152
Plants with short- to long-creeping, stout
rhizomes, forming dense clumps, the sheaths of previous season’s basal leaves
persisting and noticeable. Vegetative stems short, mostly reduced to basal
clusters of leaves. Flowering stems 30–60 cm long, mostly longer than the
leaves, bluntly trigonous, somewhat roughened toward the tip, brown to
blackened at the base. Leaves all with well-developed blades, glabrous. Leaf
blades 10–40 cm long, 3–7 mm wide, light green, mostly flat. Leaf sheaths
concave at the tip, the ligule wider than long and U-shaped, the ventral side
somewhat papery, pale green to white or often somewhat brownish tinged, the
lowermost sheath bases brown to blackened. Terminal spike staminate, sometimes
with the uppermost 1–2 spikes also staminate, or mostly staminate with a few
pistillate flowers at the tip, the remaining 2–6 spikes pistillate. Staminate
spikes 25–60 mm long, linear in outline, the scales 4.5–7.5 mm long, narrowly
oblong-elliptic, rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip, white with pale green
or light yellow midrib. Pistillate spikes 15–45 mm long, 6–9 mm wide, mostly
long-stalked, erect to more commonly nodding or drooping, the scales 3.5–5.0 mm
long, ovate, tapered to a pointed tip, white or light brownish tinged, the
midrib sometimes light green. Perigynia 5–6 mm long, ovate in outline, somewhat
inflated and bluntly triangular in cross-section, tapered to a short beak with
2 minute, papery teeth at the tip, rounded at the base, the sides with several
irregular nerves, light green to nearly straw-colored, somewhat shiny. Fruits
2.0–2.5 mm long, yellowish brown to dark brown, with flat to slightly concave
sides and somewhat thickened, blunt, lighter colored angles, the short beak
straight or bent. April–June.
Uncommon in southern Missouri (Georgia to Texas north to North Carolina, Missouri, and Oklahoma). Bottomland forests, acid seeps,
margins of sinkhole ponds, openings of dry upland forests, and dolomite glades;
also on roadsides.