USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Larger Straw Sedge (Carex normalis)

• Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
• Flowering: May-July.
• Field Marks: The male flowers are located below the female flowers. This species has spikelets one above the other and barely overlapping. The perigynia are ovate.
• Habitat: Wet woods, swamps, along streams, around ponds, wet prairies.
• Habit: Perennial herb with thickened rootstocks.
• Stems: Erect or spreading, triangular, rough to the touch, up to 3 1/2 feet tall.
• Leaves: Elongated, narrow, shorter than the stems, smooth, up to 1/6 inch broad.
• Flowers: Male and female borne separately; the male flowers crowded at the base of the female spikelets; each female spikelet usually one above the other and barely overlapping, up to 1/2 inch long.
• Scales: Ovate, more or less rounded at the tip, up to 1/8 inch long.
• Sepals: 0.
• Petals: 0.
• Stamens: 3.
• Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; the perigynium flat, ovate, up to 1/4 inch long, with a short 2-toothed beak.
• Fruits: Achenes smooth, about 1/16 inch long.
• Notes: The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.