120. Carex hystericina Muhl. ex. Willd.
Pl. 63 a–d; Map 236
Plants with short
rhizomes, forming dense clumps. Flowering stems 30–100 cm long, sharply
trigonous, tinged reddish purple at the base. Leaves mostly with well-developed
blades, the outermost flowering stems sometimes with the lowermost leaves
reduced to nearly bladeless sheaths. Leaf blades 2–50 cm long, 2–9 mm wide,
green. Leaf sheaths concave at the tip, the ligule wider than long or about as
long as wide and U-shaped. Terminal spike 20–50 mm long, staminate, the
staminate scales 3.5–5.5 mm long, oblanceolate to obovate, with more or less
hairy margins, the tip tapered to a noticeable awn with roughened or toothed margins,
reddish brown with a green or straw-colored midrib. Lateral spikes 1–4, 10–60
mm long, 10–15 mm wide, all pistillate, narrowly oblong in outline and rounded
at both ends, the lowermost spikes with long, slender stalks, drooping or
nodding, the lowermost bract usually lacking a sheath or nearly so. Pistillate
scales 3–5 mm long, the short, main body obovate to oblanceolate, the tip
tapered to a long awn 2–3 times as long as the body with roughened or toothed
margins, reddish brown with a green or straw-colored midrib. Perigynia 5–7 mm
long, 1.5–2.0 mm wide, ascending to spreading at maturity, narrowly ovate in
outline, tapered gradually to a beak with erect to slightly spreading teeth
0.3–1.0 mm long, inflated and circular or nearly so in cross-section, the
surface papery, with 12–20 nerves, light green. Style contorted (abruptly bent,
curved, or looped) in the lower half. Fruits with the main body 1.7–2.0 mm
long, obovate in outline, brown. 2n=58. May–July.
Scattered south of the
Missouri River, but absent from the Mississippi Lowlands Division (Northern
U.S. south to Virginia, Texas, and California; Canada). Fens and seepy,
calcareous banks of streams; also ditches.
The species epithet is
sometimes spelled “hystricina” in the botanical literature (Steyermark,
1963).