Carex cristatella Britton

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Cyperaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Carex cristatella Britton & A.Br.

  • Description

    Species Description - Stout, tufted, aphyllopodic, 4–9 dm; main lvs 3–7 mm wide, shorter than or equaling the stems; sheaths ventrally green-veined almost to the summit; spikes 6–12, gynaecandrous, 5–8 mm long and thick, subglobose or short-ovoid, sessile, densely crowded in an ovoid cluster 2–4 cm; lowest bract setaceous-prolonged but shorter than the infl; pistillate scales lanceolate, much shorter than the perigynia, hyaline with a green midnerve, merely acute; perigynia greenish-stramineous to pale brown, spreading or slightly recurved, oblong, 2.4–3.9 mm, 2–3 times as long as wide, distended over the achene, the wing usually broadest above the achene and tapering gradually to the base, finely nerved on both sides, gradually tapering to the beak; achene lenticular, 1.5 × 0.5 mm; 2n=70. Open swamps, wet meadows, and shores; N.H. and w. Que. to Va., w. to N.D., Neb., and e. Kans. (C. cristata, a preoccupied name)