Carex aquatilis Wahlenb.
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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 - Vigorously and densely rhizomatous, commonly forming large clumps or a turf, the flowering stems 3–10(–15) dm, surrounded by the dried-up lf-bases of the previous year; lower sheaths red-tinged, lvs mostly 2–7 mm wide; spikes mostly 3–7, cylindric, approximate to ± remote, mostly (1–)1.5–5 cm, the terminal one staminate (sometimes with a few basal perigynia), sometimes with a smaller staminate spike at its base, the others pistillate or (especially the upper) sometimes androgynous, erect, all sessile or nearly so, or the lower ones often evidently pedunculate; bracts sheathless or nearly so, the lowest one 7–25 cm and mostly surpassing the infl; pistillate scales reddish-brown or tawny to often purplish-black, usually with a paler midrib, generally narrower and often shorter than the perigynia; perigynia spotted or suffused with reddish-brown or purple, elliptic to obovate, ± strongly flattened, 2–3.3 mm including the 0.1–0.3 mm entire beak, 2-ribbed, otherwise nerveless; achene lenticular, distinctly shorter and often narrower than the perigynial cavity; 2n=74–84. In shallow water or wet soil, sometimes in salt-marshes; circumboreal, s. to N.J., Ind., Io., and N.M. Our plants have been called var. substricta Kük. (C. substricta)