Hop sedge

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Hop sedge inflorescence

Hop sedge pistillate spikes

Hop sedge

Hop sedge

Morphology

Culm

Triangular, smooth, light brown or green, purplish near base, much exceeded by upper leaves and bracts.

Leaves

Flat, dull green, up to 24 inches long, 1/6 to 3/5 inch wide, tapering gradually to narrow tip, glabrous; margins rough.

Sheath

Inner surface white-transparent.

Ligule

Usually longer than wide.

Inflorescence

Spikes, unisexual; terminal spike usually 1, staminate, linear, 1 to 3.5 inches long, less than 1/6 inch wide, nearly sessile to long-stalked; bracts leaf-like, somewhat shorter to much exceeding spike; staminate scales linear to lanceolate, straw-colored; center green, several-nerved; margins transparent; tips tapering to long points or short-awned; lateral spikes 1-6, large, pistillate, oblong to oblong-cylindric, .8 to 2.8 inches long, .5 to 1.2 inches wide, sessile or with stalks up to 7 inches long, densely flowered; pistillate scales lanceolate, much narrower and usually shorter than perigynia, straw-colored; center green, several-nerved; margins transparent; tips tapering to long points or rough-awned; perigynia .2 to .6 inch long, less than .2 inch wide, rounded at base, green or yellowish-brown at maturity, strongly ribbed; beak long-tapering, about half length of body, 2-toothed.

Fruit

Achenes, triangular, 1/6 inch long, less than 1/8 inch wide, 1-seeded; stigmas 3, short, blackish.

Ecology

Habitat

Stream and pond edges, lake shores, marshes, swamps, ditches, and wooded ravines.

Distribution

East 1/4 of Kansas.

Additional Notes