Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

PORCUPINE SEDGE

(Carex hystericina Muhl.)


Figure 19 - Perigynium

SEDGE FAMILY (Cyperaceae)

IND. STATUS: OBL

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A slender, clustered perennial with triangular stems about 30 to 100 cm. tall. Leaves are 3 to 9 mm. wide, M-shaped, and are not septate. Bracts of the lowest pistillate spike are generally longer than the inflorescence. Several pistillate spikelets are 1.5-4 cm. in length and on slender stalks, the lower spikelets drooping. The numerous perigynia are 5-7 mm. long, 15-20 nerved, and densely clustered. The slender beak of the perigynium is conspicuous and has short straight teeth to about 0.7 mm. long.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Porcupine sedge is very similar to bottlebrush sedge (Carex comosa). It is a sedge of marshes, ditches and fens.

SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991); Swink and Wilhelm (1994).

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