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Crowfoot Sedge (Carex crus-corvi)

• Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
• Flowering: May-July.
• Field Marks: This well-marked sedge is distinguished by its large spikes and the large perigynium with the beak at least twice as long as the rest of the perigynium.
• Habitat: Wet meadows, wet prairies, swamps, floodplain woods.
• Habit: Perennial herb with thickened rootstocks.
• Stems: Erect, several in a clump, strongly triangular, rough to the touch, bluish to dark green, up to 2 1/2 feet tall.
• Leaves: Elongated, narrow, bluish to dark green, rough along the edges to the touch, up to 1/2 inch broad.
• Flowers: Male and female borne separately but in the same spike; the male flowers above the female flowers; the spikes up to 10 inches long, up to 2 inches broad.
• Scales: Ovate to lanceolate, pointed at the tip, shorter than the perigynia.
• Sepals: 0.
• Petals: 0.
• Stamens: 3.
• Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; each perigynium lanceloid, spongy at the base, tapering to a long, minutely toothed beak at least twice as long as the rest of the perigynium, the entire perigynium up to 1/2 inch long.
• Fruits: Achenes brownish, more or less triangular, up to 1/10 inch long.
• Notes: The color of the leaves varies from bluish to dark green. The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.