Emory's sedge

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Emory's sedge spike

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge inflorescence

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge leaves

Emory's sedge spikes

Emory's sedge sheath

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge

Emory's sedge

Morphology

Culm

Slender, triangular, usually rough on angles, base reddish-purple, leaves of previous years often persistent.

Leaves

Flat to rolled under from margins, usually longer than culms, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide; margins rough.

Sheath

Glabrous; lowest sheaths bladeless, outer surface reddish-brown, inner surface white-translucent.

Ligule

Shorter than width of blade.

Inflorescence

Lowest bract leaf-like, equaling inflorescence, others smaller; spikes unisexual; upper 2-3 spikes staminate, .8 to 2 inches long, more or less erect, stalked; staminate scales egg-shaped, brown with tawny mid-vein, tips rounded; lowest 2-3 spikes pistillate, erect to ascending, 1 to 4 inches long, sessile to short-stalked, bases slender, often with few staminate flowers at tip; pistillate scales 1/12 to 1/7 inch long, about as long as perigynia, ovate to elliptic, pale or reddish-brown, mid-vein tawny, tip tapering to point; perigynia numerous, somewhat flattened, ovate, dull green to straw-colored, 3- to 5-nerved on each side, surface granulated, beak minute.

Fruit

Achenes, lens-shaped, 1-seeded, dull brown; stigmas 2.

Ecology

Habitat

Margins of streams, ponds, lakes and marshes; ditches, wet meadows; often in standing water; usually on calcareous soils.

Distribution

East 2/3 of Kansas.

Additional Notes