108. Carex hirsutella Mack.

Pl. 59 a–e; Map 224

C. complanata Torr. & Hook. var. hirsuta (L.H. Bailey) Gleason

Vegetative stems short. Flowering stems 20–90 cm long, erect or nearly so, sparsely hairy, reddish purple tinged at the base. Leaves usually shorter than the stems. Leaf blades 2–30 cm long, 1.5–4.0 mm wide, densely hairy on both surfaces, flat, green. Leaf sheaths densely hairy, green, the ligule wider than long and U-shaped. Terminal spike 10–20(–25) mm long, 3.5–5.0 mm wide. Lateral spikes mostly densely clustered near the tip of the axis, 6–18 mm long, 3.5–5.0 mm wide, sessile or nearly so, erect to ascending, with 15–30 dense perigynia. Staminate scales 2.1–5.2 mm long, lanceolate to ovate, tapered to a sharply pointed tip, greenish white with a green midrib. Pistillate scales 1.8–2.5 mm long, shorter than the perigynia, ovate, the tip bluntly pointed, sometimes with an inconspicuous awn 0.1–0.5 mm long, greenish white with a green midrib, glabrous. Perigynia 2–3 mm long, ascending, elliptic to broadly obovate in outline, somewhat flattened on the ventral side and therefore slightly trigonous, rounded to very bluntly pointed and beakless at the tip, broadly narrowed to somewhat rounded at the base, the surface with 5–18 fine nerves, nerveless or faintly nerved on the ventral side and finely or strongly nerved on the dorsal side, glabrous, olive green. Fruits 1.6–2.1 mm long, obovate in outline, the very short beak bent to the side. 2n=52. May–July.

Common nearly throughout Missouri, except the northwesternmost portion of the state; most common in the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions (northeastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to Iowa and Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests, savannas, and occasionally in upland prairies; also railroads, roadsides, and dry, open, disturbed areas.