Carex cephalophora Muhl. ex 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 - Densely cespitose, the stems 3–6 dm, slightly shorter to more than twice as long as the lvs; lvs 2–5 mm wide; spikes in a dense ovoid head 1–2 cm, scarcely distinguishable except by the setaceous projecting bracts, subglobose, 5 mm, androgynous; perigynia greenish or somewhat stramineous, spreading, ovate, planoconvex, 2.5–3.5 mm, two-fifths to three-fifths as wide shortly below the middle of the body, rounded or cuneate at base, conspicuously serrulate distally, the sharply bidentate beak a third as long as the body. Var. cephalophora, abundant in dry or moist woods, occasionally in open places, from Me. and sw. Que. to Man., s. to Fla. and Tex., has the pistillate scales broadly ovate, hyaline at the margin, green along the center, with green midnerve and 2 obscure lateral nerves, acuminate to short-awned, and the body much shorter than and mostly concealed by the perigynia. Var. mesochorea (Mack.) Gleason, of dry soil and open woods from Mass. to Va., Ind., Mo., Tenn., and Tex., has the stems usually much longer than the lvs, and has much larger pistillate scales, the body nearly or quite as long as the body of the perigynium, distinctly 3-nerved near the center. (C. mesochorea)