Carex leptalea Wahlenb.

• 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 leptalea Wahlenb.

• Description

  Species Description - Stems densely clustered on slender, freely branched rhizomes, very slender, 1.5–6 dm; lvs shorter than the stems, slender but ± flat, 0.7–1.2 mm wide; spike 1, 0.5–1.5 cm, the terminal staminate part often short; pistillate scales obtuse to acute or short-awned, mostly shorter than the perigynia, or the lowest prolonged into a slender tip surpassing the perigynia; perigynia 1–10, 2.5–4.5 mm, appressed-ascending, often rather remote, membranaceous, elliptic or lance-elliptic, with a narrow, often substipitate, spongy base 0.5–1 mm, beakless, with 2 marginal nerves and many finer nerves on each face; achene trigonous, 1.3–1.8 mm, not filling the perigynium; rachilla wanting; 2n=52. Bogs and wet soil; Lab. to Alas., s. to Fla., Tex., and Calif. (C. harperi, a form with the perigynia to 5 mm)