Carex plantaginea Lam.

  • 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 plantaginea Lam.

  • Description

    Species Description - Tufted, 3–6 dm; fertile stems triangular, roughened on the angles, purple at base; basal sheaths purple; lvs of the sterile shoots elongate, often surpassing the fertile stems, 10–30 mm wide, roughened on the margins and toward the tip on the main veins; lvs of the fertile stem reduced to bladeless or nearly bladeless purple sheaths; terminal spike staminate, 1–2 cm, purplish, long-peduncled; pistillate spikes 2–4, 1–3 cm, scattered, the lowest on a basal peduncle to 2 cm; pistillate scales acuminate to cuspidate; perigynia 4–15, crowded and overlapping, 3.7–5 mm, finely many-nerved as well as 2-ribbed, sharply trigonous, elliptic in outline, constricted into a short, oblique beak with entire orifice; achene sharply trigonous; 2n=50, 52. Rich moist woods; N.B. and s. Que. to Minn., s. Ind., Ky., N.J., Md., and in the mts. to n. Ga. Tufted, 3–6 dm; fertile stems triangular, roughened on the angles, purple at base; basal sheaths purple; lvs of the sterile shoots elongate, often surpassing the fertile stems, 10–30 mm wide, roughened on the margins and toward the tip on the main veins; lvs of the fertile stem reduced to bladeless or nearly bladeless purple sheaths; terminal spike staminate, 1–2 cm, purplish, long-peduncled; pistillate spikes 2–4, 1–3 cm, scattered, the lowest on a basal peduncle to 2 cm; pistillate scales acuminate to cuspidate; perigynia 4–15, crowded and overlapping, 3.7–5 mm, finely many-nerved as well as 2-ribbed, sharply trigonous, elliptic in outline, constricted into a short, oblique beak with entire orifice; achene sharply trigonous; 2n=50, 52. Rich moist woods; N.B. and s. Que. to Minn., s. Ind., Ky., N.J., Md., and in the mts. to n. Ga.