Carex melanostachya Willd.
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Cyperaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Stems slender, mostly 3–6 dm, arising singly or few together from long rhizomes; lvs long and narrow, mostly 2–4 mm wide; bracts lf-like but scarcely or not at all sheathing, ± erect, the lowest one about equaling or somewhat surpassing the infl; terminal spike staminate, 2–3 cm, evidently pedunculate, or often with 1 or 2 shorter sessile ones at its base, the other 2 or 3 spikes a little more remote, pistillate, 1.5–3(–4) cm; pistillate scales castaneous, with a paler firm midrib prolonged as a short awn or cusp; perigynia plump, ellipsoid-trigonous, 3.5–5(–5.5) mm, firm and impressed-nerved at maturity, rather abruptly contracted to the short, evidently bidentate beak; achene trigonous. Wet grasslands and disturbed wet places; native of Europe, irregularly intr. in N. Amer., as in e. Kans. and near Montreal. (C. nutans Host, not J. F. Gmelin.)