1. Carex albicans Willd. ex Spreng.

Plants with short- to long-creeping rhizomes, forming dense tufts or loose colonies of tufts. Flowering stems 10–40 cm long, all elongate and of similar lengths, none of the spikes hidden among the leaf bases, about as long as or somewhat longer than the leaves. Leaf blades 10–40 cm long, 0.5–2.5 mm wide, ascending to more commonly arched outward, the margins flat or somewhat curled under. Leaf sheaths with the tip shallowly concave, the ligule short and broadly V-shaped, the lowermost sheath bases becoming dissected into threadlike fibers with age. Inflorescences usually relatively dense, the lowermost bract leaflike, shorter than the inflorescence, lacking a sheath. Terminal spike staminate, sessile to short-stalked, 4–14 mm long, linear, the staminate scales 2.7–4.0 mm long, elliptic to ovate or obovate, straw-colored or green, often tinged with dark reddish purple and white-margined. Lateral spikes 1–4, pistillate, densely spaced or less commonly separated near the tip of the axis, sessile or nearly so, 2.5–7.0(–8.5) mm long, broadly ovate in outline, with 4–12 densely spaced perigynia, the pistillate scales 2.5–3.5 mm long, ovate to obovate, tapered to the pointed tip, green or more commonly dark brown to purplish black with green midrib and white margins. Perigynia conspicuous, the tips not hidden by the scales, 2.0–3.5 mm long, elliptic in outline, the main body above the stalklike base elliptic to obovate in outline, distinctly longer than wide, olive green to pale green, minutely and usually densely hairy. Fruits 1.2–1.7 mm long, elliptic in outline, trigonous in cross-section, brown. 2n=36, 40. March–June.

Scattered throughout the state (eastern U.S. west to Iowa and Texas; Canada, Mexico). Mesic to dry upland forests and shaded ledges, less commonly in sandy bottomland forests, often on acidic substrates.

Carex albicans is a characteristic early spring sedge of upland forests. Three varieties are generally recognized, of which two occur in the state. The third, var. emmonsii (Dewey ex Torr.) Rettig, occurs only to the east of Missouri. These three taxa have often been treated as separate species in the literature. Rettig (1989, 1990) noted their strong morphological, anatomical, and biochemical similarities, and treated them as varieties of first C. emmonsii and then C. albicans.