Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

62. Cyperaceae, the Sedge Family

2. Carex L. -- Sedge

37. Carex meadii Dewey -- Mead's sedge

Tufted from long rhizomes; culms stiff, trigonous, 1.5-5 dm long. Leaves 2-7 mm wide; sheaths tight, hyaline ventrally, concave at the mouth. Spikes unisexual; terminal spike staminate, 1-3 cm long; lateral spikes pistillate, usually remote, at least the lower ones short-peduncled, short-cylindric, usually closely flowered, 16-30 mm long, 4-7 mm thick, with 6 rows of perigynia; bracts sheathing, the blades usually not exceeding the culm; pistillate scales purplish-red or brown on the margins with a prominent green midvein, obtuse or short-awned, as wide but shorter than the perigynia. Perigynia yellowish-green or brown, obscurely trigonous, obovoid, 2-3.5 mm long, 2-ribbed, with fewer than 10 additional faint nerves, rounded at the tip, the beak short-tubular and bent, sometimes obsolete; achenes trigonous with concave sides, 1.5-2 mm long; stigmas 3. Jun--Jul. Moist meadows and prairie; uncommon, scattered in the e and c parts; (NJ to Sask., s to NC, GA, AR and TX).
GIF- Distribution Map

Previous Section -- Carex lupulina Willd. -- Hop sedge
Return to Family -- Cyperaceae - The Sedge Family
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