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Published In: Species Plantarum. Editio quarta 4(1): 282–283. 1805. (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 9/1/2009)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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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).

 


 

 
 
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