Carex aurea Nutt.

  • 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 aurea Nutt.

  • Description

    Species Description - Stems slender, 0.3–4 dm, solitary or in small tufts on long creeping rhizomes; lvs mostly 1–4 mm wide, often surpassing the stems; spikes 2–several, 5–20 mm, approximate or ± remote, erect or loose on slender, sometimes elongate peduncles, the terminal one staminate, less often gynaecandrous, rarely androgynous, the others pistillate, often some of them near-basal; pistillate scales half to fully as long as the perigynia; perigynia ellipsoid to more often obovoid or obovoid-globose, ± rounded and beakless distally, only slightly or not at all compressed, 1.7–3 mm, evidently 12–20-ribbed, varying to nearly nerveless, strongly whitish-papillate on a light green background when young, tending to turn golden or yellow-brown with increasing maturity, becoming somewhat fleshy and obscurely papillate, or sometimes remaining whitish-papillate and not becoming fleshy; stigmas 2 (or 3 in some fls), the achene accordingly lenticular (often plump) or trigonous; 2n=52. Moist or wet places; Nf. to Alas., s. to Pa., n. Ind., Minn., Nebr., N.M. and Calif. (C. garberi and C. hassei, with the perigynia only obscurely nerved and remaining dry and white-papillate at maturity, but the characters confluent)