95. Carex muehlenbergii Schkuhr ex Willd.

Pl. 57 b–h; Map 211

Plants with poorly developed rhizomes, forming tufts or clumps. Flowering stems 20–105 cm long, about as long as to more commonly much longer than the leaves. Leaf blades 2–60 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, green to light green. Leaf sheaths tight around the stem, the ventral side relatively firm and without cross-wrinkles (rarely inconspicuously cross-wrinkled), usually remaining intact at maturity, the dorsal side green, sometimes inconspicuously white-mottled, the ligule about as long as wide and U- or V-shaped. Inflorescence compact, narrowly ovate to more commonly narrowly oblong in outline, dense, but at least the lowermost spikes separated on the axis and easily distinguished (the axis easily visible between the lowermost spikes), with 5–10(–20) spikes, the lowermost bracts 5–35 mm long, shorter than to sometimes somewhat longer than the inflorescence, hairlike with the base slightly broadened and weakly nerved, the dilated portion shorter than the lowermost perigynium. Spikes 5–10 mm long, 7–12 mm wide, with 8–24 mostly spreading to sometimes reflexed perigynia, the scales 1.8–3.6 mm long, 2/3 as long to less commonly about as long as the perigynia, ovate to broadly ovate, the tip sharply pointed and mostly awned. Perigynia 2.7–4.2 mm long, 1.6–2.6 mm wide, up to 2 times as long as wide, ovate in outline, widest just below the middle, the tip with a short beak with minutely toothed or roughened margins, the base rounded to broadly narrowed, the basal portion not thickened with corky to spongy tissue (rarely slightly thickened), light green to straw-colored, the ventral surface nerveless or with up to 12 nerves, the dorsal surface nerveless or more commonly with 5–15 nerves. Stigmas long, slender, straight or sometimes loosely coiled. Fruits 1.9–2.5 mm long, broadly ovate to nearly circular in outline. May–July.

Scattered throughout Missouri (eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to Minnesota and Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests and savannas, rarely in bottomland forests; also roadsides, railroads, and open, disturbed areas.

The species epithet has been spelled “muhlenbergii” in most of the recent botanical literature, but the original spelling, “muehlenbergii,” must be followed. Two overlapping varieties may be distinguished.