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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Short-beak Sedge
Carex simulata Mackenz.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
Flowering: May-August
Field Marks: This sedge is distinguished by the male flowers at the tip of the spikelets, the 2 stigmas, the lenticular achenes, and the tiny, brown, shiny perigynia less than 1/8 inch long with a minute beak.
Habitat: Wet meadows, along streams, in bogs, swamps.
Habit: Perennial herb with long, brown rhizomes.
Stems: Upright, triangular, up to 1 1/2 feet tall, longer than the leaves.
Leaves: Alternate, elongated, narrow, up to 1/6 inch wide, flat, not hairy.
Flowers: Male and female borne in the same spikelet, with the male flowers at the tip; spikelets 8-25, less than 1/2 inch long, more or less crowded into a head up to 1 1/2 inches long; bracts subtending the spikelets not leaf-like.
Scales: Lanceolate, brown except for the paler edges, longer than the perigynia.
Sepals: O.
Petals: O.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; perigynia very small, ovoid to ellipsoid, up to 1/8 inch long, minutely beaked, brown, shiny, smooth, minutely toothed, especially near the tip; stigmas 2.
Fruits: Achenes lenticular, ellipsoid to obovoid, up to 1/16 inch long, smooth.
Notes: Some plants may have all male spikelets or all female spikelets. The achenes are sometimes eaten by birds.

Previous Species -- Holm's Rocky Mountain Sedge (Carex scopulorum)
Return to Species List -- Group 3
Next Species -- Inflated Sedge (Carex vesicaria)

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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:24:39 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww55]