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Northeast Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Bebb's Sedge
Carex bebbii (L.H. Bailey) Olney ex Fernald

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
Flowering: June-August
Field Marks: This sedge is distinguished by its crowded, ovoid spikes that have the male flowers at the base, and the ovate perigynia with the inner face nerveless.
Habitat: Wet meadows.
Habit: Perennial herb from thickened rootstocks.
Stems: Densely tufted, upright, unbranched, rough only below the spikes, triangular, up to 2 1/2 feet tall.
Leaves: Elongated, flat, smooth, up to 1/4 inch wide.
Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets crowded into ovoid spikes up to 1/2 inch long, the male flowers at the base of the female flowers in the same spike; female scales narrowly ovate, pointed at the tip, slightly longer than the perigynia.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Borne in perigynia, the perigynia narrowly ovate, up to 1/6 inch long, 1/12-1/10 inch wide, nerveless on the inner face; stigmas 2.
Fruits: Achenes lenticular, narrowed at each end, smooth.
Notes: The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.

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