Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SHORELINE SEDGE

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Carex hyalinolepis Steud.

Clay County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 16-44 inches

Family: Cyperaceae - Sedge Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June, July

Culms:

Erect to ascending, mostly longer than leaves, stout, 3-sided, glabrous, base brown.

Leaves:

Basal and on lower stem, light green; blades 4 to 20 inches long, .25 to .6 inch wide, slightly glaucous, channeled near base, margins rough, somewhat recurved near tip.

Sheaths:

Lowermost sheaths pale brown

Ligules:

U-shaped, usually wider than long

Inflorescences:

Bracts leaflike; terminal spikes 2-4, staminate, .4 to 1.8 inches long, to .2 inch wide; uppermost spike stalked, lateral spikes sessile if present; scales reddish brown with lighter center and transparent margins, becoming straw-colored at maturity, narrowly oblong-elliptic, .14 to .4 inch long, tip tapered to point or short awn. Pistillate spikes 2-4, sessile or short-stalked, ascending, narrowly oblong, .4 to 3.6 inches long, .4 to .6 inch wide; scales reddish brown with lighter center and transparent margins, ovate to lance-ovate, .16 to .4 inch, shorter than perigynia, tip tapered to point or short awn. Perigynia unto 150 per spike, green, narrowly ovoid, .2 to .3 inch long, tip gradually tapered to beak ending in 2 short teeth; stigmas 3.

Fruits:

Achenes, yellowish brown or greenish brown, elliptic-obovate, .08 to .1 inch, 3-sided.

Habitat:

Wetlands; river, pond and lake margins; ditches; wet, disturbed sites

Distribution:

East 1/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Grows in tufts and forms large colonies.

Shoreline sedge inflorescence