Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Carex sparganioides Muhl. ex Willd.
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: June-July
- Field Marks: The field marks of this Carex are the 6-15 spikelets separated in an elongated inflorescence. The perigynia. are narrowly winged to the base. Male flowers are borne at the tip of each spikelet.
- Habitat: Rich woods, thickets.
- Habit: Perennial herb from elongated, woody rootstocks.
- Stems: Upright, unbranched, rather stout, sharply triangular, not hairy but rough to the touch, longer than the leaves, up to 3 feet tall.
- Leaves: Several, elongated, flat, up to 1/3 inch wide, not hairy but rough along the edges, with conspicuous cross-markings at right angles to the veins.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with the male flowers crowded at the tip of each spikelet; spikelets 6-9, not continuous, forming an inflorescence up to 3 1/2 inches long, subtended by thread-like bracts.
- Scales: Ovate-lanceolate, whitish with a green center, pointed at the tip, about 1/2 as long as the perigynia and narrower than the perigynia.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; each perigynium green, becoming yellowish, 1/6 inch long, flattened on one face, rounded on the other, ovate-lanceolate, the margin narrow and wing-like all the way to the base, very short-beaked at the tip; styles 2.
- Fruits: Achenes lenticular, up to 1/10 inch long, yellow-green.
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