Awlfruit sedge

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Awlfruit sedge habit

Awlfruit sedge inflorescence

Awlfruit sedge

Awlfruit sedge with bottle-brush sedge in background

Awlfruit sedge

Morphology

Culm

Erect, stiff, strongly triangular, rough, base pale brown.

Leaves

Leaf blades 3--6, green, to 24 inch long, to 2/5 inch wide, flat, margins rough.

Sheath

Sheaths open, green, prolonged at summit.

Ligule

Longer than wide.

Inflorescence

Elongate, cylindric, to 4 inch long, to 1 1/5 inch wide; bracts bristle-like, to 2 inch long; spikes 15--25, bisexual, staminate flowers above pistillate; pistillate scales transparent to yellowish brown, center green, lanceolate to ovate, much shorter than perigynia; staminate scales pale brown, narrowly lanceolate; perigynia 4--10 per spike, pale brown with reddish brown veins, lanceoloid, 1/6--1/4 inch long, gradually tapering to 2-toothed beak.

Fruit

Achenes, ovate; stigmas 2, reddish brown.

Ecology

Habitat

Wet prairies and meadows, ditches, marshes.

Distribution

East 3/5 of Kansas

Additional Notes