Carex retroflexa 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; stems 2–4 dm, rather stiff; lvs elongate, flat, 1–3 mm wide; spikes 4–8, ovoid or subglobose, 5–8 mm, androgynous, the lower separate and subtended by setaceous bracts 1–5 cm, the upper approximate, with much shorter or no bracts; pistillate scales ovate, acute to short-acuminate or cuspidate, nearly as long as the perigynia and usually deciduous before maturity; perigynia green to brownish-green, spongy-thickened at base, 2.5–3 mm, the beak smooth-margined, sharply but shortly bidentate. Dry woods, often somewhat weedy. Var. retroflexa, of Vt. to Ont., O., and Mo., s. to Fla. and Tex., has the spongy perigynium-base distinctly nerved, tumid on the ventral face, the perigynium somewhat biconvex, two-fifths to half as wide as long, acuminately narrowed into the beak. Var. texensis (Torr.) Fernald, of O. and nw. Ind. to se. Mo., s. to S.C., Miss., and Tex., has the spongy perigynium-base nerveless or nearly so, scarcely tumid on the ventral face, the perigynium planoconvex, a third as wide as long, the beak with sides straight or nearly so.