Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

Hemicarpha Nees

Dwarf, tufted, fibrous-rooted annuals 3-15 cm tall; culms and leaves filiform; leaves 2 per culm, basal, shorter than the culms; involucral bracts 2 or 3, foliaceous, the principal one rather erect, causing the inflorescence to appear lateral. Inflorescence of 1-3 sessile, ovoid spikelets, these compact, containing numerous minute, spirally arranged scales; perianth consisting of a single minute inner scale opposite the subtending outer scale, this inner scale often absent; bristles none; stamen solitary; styles bifid. Achenes minute, obovate and compressed or cylindrical, black or brown, minutely apiculate.

Reference:  

Friedland, S.  1941.  The American species of Hemicarpha. Amer. J. Bot.
     28:855-861.

Lead	Characteristic	Go To
1	Inner scale equaling or exceeding the achene and often cupped around it; mature achenes obovate, compressed, black.	H. drummondii
1	Inner scale much shorter than the achene or absent; mature achenes cylindrical, brown.	H. micrantha

62. Cyperaceae, the Sedge Family

9. Hemicarpha Ness

1. Hemicarpha drummondii Nees

2. Hemicarpha micrantha (Vahl) Britt.

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