Western Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Carex limosa L.
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: May-June
- Field Marks: This distinctive sedge has 3 stigmas, a triangular achene, a solitary male spike on a long stalk, 1-3 female spikes, the lowest ones drooping, long, creeping rhizomes with roots covered by a yellow wool, a perigynium covered by nume
- Habitat: Sphagnum bogs.
- Habit: Perennial herb with long-creeping rhizomes and roots covered by a yellow wool.
- Stems: Upright, slender, triangular, up to 20 inches tall, without hairs.
- Leaves: Very narrow and elongated, shorter than the stem, up to 1/10 inch wide, flat but channeled, without hairs.
- Flowers: Borne in spikes, the male spike solitary and terminal, the other 1-3 spikes female; male spike up to 1/4 inch thick, on an upright stalk; female spikes oblongoid, up to 1 1/4 inches long, up to 1/3 inch thick, at least the uppermost on
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium, the perigynium ovoid, abruptly beaked at the tip, with a short stalk at the base, flattened, greenish or straw-colored, up to 1/6 inch long, up to 1/10 inch wide, smooth, covered by numerous dots; stigmas 3.
- Fruits: Achenes triangular, about 1/10 inch long.
- Notes: The achenes are sometimes eaten by small mammals.
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