Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Eastern star sedge

EASTERN STAR SEDGE

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Carex radiata (Wahlenb. ) Small

Miami County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 8-32 inches

Family: Cyperaceae - Sedge Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June

Culms:

Erect to ascending to prostrate, 3-sided, very slender, grooved.

Leaves:

3-6, basal and alternate on lower 1/4 of culm; blades 1 to 16 inches long, 1/25 to 1/12 inch wide, shorter than flowering culm, ascending to arching, flat, glabrous, margins and mid-vein rough.

Sheaths:

Tight around culm, green.

Ligules:

U-shaped, as wide or wider than long.

Inflorescences:

1 to 3 inches long, 1/5 to 1/3 inch wide; lowest bract bristle-like, 2 to 3 inches long, extending above upper spike; spikes, 4-8, upper spikes sometimes close to one another, lowermost spikes well separated; perigynia 3-9 per spike, spreading or reflexed, sessile, tip obtuse, acute, or awned, staminate flowers at tip, pistillate flowers at base; pistillate scales ovate, half as long as perigynia, mid-vein green, tip rounded to bluntly pointed; staminate scales inconspicuous; perigynia green to yellowish brown, ovoid-lanceoloid, 1/10 to 1/8 inch, 2-3 times as long as wide, longitudinally ridged, margins minutely toothed in upper 1/3, tapering to short 2-toothed beak; stigmas 2, reddish brown, mostly straight.

Fruits:

Achenes, yellowish to dark brown, ovoid.

Habitat:

Mesic to wet woodlands, often in seasonal wet areas.

Distribution:

East 1/4 of Kansas

Comments:

Forms dense clumps. The old, dead leaves often persist to the next growing season. Carex radiata is very similar to Carex rosea.

Eastern star sedge inflorescence