93. Carex leavenworthii Dewey

Pl. 56 l–o; Map 209

Plants with poorly developed rhizomes, forming tufts or clumps. Flowering stems 10–80 cm long, shorter than to about as long as the leaves. Leaf blades 2–40 cm long, 1–3(–4) mm wide, green to light green. 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-shaped. Inflorescence compact, ovate in outline, dense and headlike, the 3–12 spikes difficult to distinguish, the lowermost bracts 2–20 mm long, shorter than the inflorescence, hairlike with the base broadened. Spikes 3–7 mm long, 5–9 mm wide, with 6–14 ascending to spreading perigynia, the scales 1.5–2.5 mm long, ovate, about 1/2 as long as the perigynia, the tip sharply pointed and sometimes short-awned. Perigynia 2.0–3.5 mm long, 1.5–3.0 mm wide, up to 1.5 times as long as wide, ovate-triangular in outline, widest at or just above the base, the tip with a short beak with smooth to minutely toothed or roughened margins, the base truncate or very broadly rounded, the basal portion sometimes more or less thickened with corky to spongy tissue, light green to straw-colored, the ventral and dorsal surfaces nerveless. Stigmas relatively short, slender, mostly straight. Fruits 1.4–2.1 mm long, broadly ovate to nearly circular in outline. April–June.

Common throughout Missouri (eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to Minnesota and Texas). Bottomland and upland forests, upland prairies, banks of streams and rivers, and fens, often in somewhat disturbed sites; also pastures, roadsides, railroads, lawns, and open, disturbed areas.