Carex scoparia Willd.

• 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 scoparia Willd.

• Description

  Species Description - Tufted, 3–10 dm, aphyllopodic; main lvs 1.5–3 mm wide, shorter than the stems; sheaths ventrally hyaline; spikes 3–8, gynaecandrous, 8–14 mm, ovoid to fusiform or subglobose, pale greenish to dull-stramineous or tan, sessile in an open to more often condensed spike 2–4 cm; bracts inconspicuous, or the lowest one to about as long as the infl; pistillate scales lance-ovate, acuminate or shortly awn-pointed, narrower and shorter than the perigynia; perigynia lanceolate, very flat, 4–5.5 × 1.5–2 mm, 2.5–3 times as long as wide, much wider than the achene, several-nerved on both sides, wing-margined and serrulate, tapering gradually to the ill-defined flat beak; achene lenticular, 1.3–1.8 × 0.7–0.8 mm; 2n=60, 64, 68. Open swamps, wet meadows, and shores; Nf. to Fla., w. to B.C., Oreg., and N.M.