PLAINS SEDGE
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| File Size: 41 KB |
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Carex inops Bailey subsp. heliophila (Mack. ) Crins
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| [=Carex heliophila Mack.] |
| Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| Perennial |
| Height: 4 - 14 inches |
| Family: Cyperaceae - Sedge Family |
| Flowering Period: April, May, June |
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| Also Called: | | Prairie sedge. | | Culms: | | Stiff, triangular, usually longer than leaves, rough on angles beneath inflorescence; leaf bases from previous year persisting; sterile shoots often present. | | Leaves: | | 5 to 10 per culm, ascending to outward arched, 2 to 14 inches long, 1/25 to 1/8 inch wide, rather stiff; margins harshly rough, usually rolled under; base grooved. | | Sheaths: | | Tight, green with transparent band on inner surface. | | Ligules: | | Short, V-shaped. | | Inflorescences: | | Spikes; terminal spike staminate, occasionally staminate and pistillate, nearly sessile, linear, 1/3 to 4/5 inch long, 1/8 to 1/5 inch wide; lateral spikes 1-3, pistillate, sessile, close to one another, ovate to nearly circular in outline, 1/6 to 2/5 inch long; lowermost bract leaf-like, shorter than inflorescence; staminate scales elliptic to lanceolate, 1/7 to 1/6 inch long, usually purplish-red or brown; margins white; tip blunt to tapering-pointed; pistillate scales ovate, 1/10 to 1/5 inch long, about equaling perigynia, dark brown to purplish black; midrib green; tip blunt to tapering-pointed with sharp, firm apex; perigynia 4-15, usually few, nearly round, 1/10 to 1/6 inch long, 1/16 to 1/12 inch wide, pale green, minutely-pubescent, abruptly contracted to beak about 1/3 length of body; beak 2-toothed, sometimes purplish. | | Fruits: | | Achene, triangular, less than 1/12 inch wide, brown, 1-seeded; stigmas 3, reddish-brown. | | Habitat: | | Upland prairies, pastures, thickets, occasionally open woods; open, well-drained sandy, loamy, and loess soils. | | Distribution: | | East three fifths of Kansas | | Origin: | | Native | | Uses: | | The Navajo used a cold tea of the plant to relieve discomfort from overeating. | | Comments: | | Forms clumps. |
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| Plains sedge leaves |  | | 152 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Plains sedge |  | | 123 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Plains sedge |  | | 61 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
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