Carex capillaris L.

  • 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 capillaris L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Densely tufted; stems slender and lax, 1–6 dm; lvs mainly in a basal cluster, to ca 15 cm, 1–3 mm wide; terminal spike staminate or rarely gynaecandrous, 4–10 mm; pistillate spikes 1–4, usually ± remote, on lax, capillary, nodding or loosely spreading peduncles 0.5–1.5 cm, 5–25-fld, sometimes compound, all subtended by sheathing bracts, of which the upper may have reduced or no blade; pistillate scales mostly shorter but often wider than the perigynia, white-hyaline distally and usually also marginally, otherwise light brown or greenish; perigynia ± elliptic or lance-ovate, 2.4–3.3 mm, tapering to a short, poorly defined beak, obliquely 2-nerved, not much if at all compressed, loosely enclosing the trigonous achene and empty distally, glabrous, or faintly scabrous-serrulate toward the beak, shining brown to olive-green; 2n=36, 54, 56. Streambanks, wet meadows, and wet ledges; circumboreal, s. in Amer. to n. N.Y., Mich., Wis., Minn., and N.M.