30. Carex glaucodea Tuck.

Pl. 37 a–e; Map 143

C. flaccosperma Dewey var. glaucodea (Tuck.) Kük.

Plants with short or poorly developed rhizomes, mostly forming dense tufts, silvery gray, strongly glaucous. Flowering stems 10–55 cm long, ascending to more commonly spreading, straw-colored or brown at the base. Leaf blades 1–25 cm long, 3–8 mm wide, flat. Leaf sheaths glabrous, the tip extended past the insertion point of the leaf blade, slightly convex to slightly concave, the lowermost, nearly bladeless sheaths straw-colored or brown. Spikes 3–6 per stem, the bracts of the uppermost pistillate spikes longer than the inflorescence. Staminate spike 10–30 mm long, sessile or short-stalked, the stalk smooth. Staminate scales 4.3–5.2 mm long, narrowly oblong to narrowly ovate, white with green midrib, often tinged reddish brown. Pistillate spikes 9–40 mm long, 4–7 mm wide, the uppermost sessile or short-stalked, the lowermost short- to long-stalked, the stalks smooth, ascending, with 10–45 strongly overlapping perigynia, these several-ranked, in a spiral pattern around the axis. Pistillate scales 2.0–3.5 mm long, the lowermost ones with the bodies much shorter than the associated perigynia, ovate to broadly ovate, the tip pointed and with a short to long, rough-margined awn, white with green midrib. Perigynia 3.2–4.5 mm long, less than twice as long as the main body of the fruit, 1.5–2.5 mm wide, 1.8–2.4 times as long as wide, ascending, obovate in outline, the tip rounded to bluntly pointed, without a beak, tapered to a broad, more or less rounded base, bluntly triangular in cross-section. Fruits 2.4–3.0 mm long, the main body (excluding beak and stalklike base) 1.9–2.3 mm long, the beak 0.2–0.4 mm long, noticeably bent. 2n=44, 48. April–June.

Common in the Ozark (except southwesternmost Missouri), Ozark Border, and Mississippi Lowlands Divisions, extending locally into northeastern Missouri (northeastern U.S. and adjacent Canada south to North Carolina and Louisiana, west to Illinois and Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests, usually in drier soils on acidic substrates, less commonly in moister sites or along streams; also sometimes in roadside ditches, along trails, and in old fields.

This species is easily recognized, even when present only vegetatively, by its thick, strongly glaucous leaves. It is often found in partially sunny areas and tolerates moderate disturbance. For a discussion of the relationship between C. glaucodea and C. flaccosperma, see the treatment of that species.