Carex heterostachya Bunge

Different-spike sedge (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Poales > Cyperaceae > Carex

Characteristics

Rhizome with long stolons. Culms 20-40 cm tall, triquetrous, smooth on lower part, scabrid on upper part, clothed with red-brown and bladeless sheaths at base, rudimentary sheaths usually disintegrating into fibers. Leaves shorter than culm, blades 2-3 mm wide, flat, ± stiff, scabrous on margins, slightly long sheathed. Involucral bracts awn-shaped, usually shorter than spike, sometimes lowermost slightly longer than spike, not sheathed or lowermost one shortly sheathed. Spikes 3 or 4, congregate on top of culm; terminal 1 or 2 spikes male, oblong or clavate, 1-3 cm, sessile; remaining spikes female, ovate or oblong, 0.8-1.8 cm, densely many flowered, nearly sessile, sometimes lowermost one very shortly pedunculate. Female glumes brown laterally, yellowish brown at middle, orbicular-ovate or ovate, ca. 3.5 mm, membranous, 3-veined, green costate, margins white hyaline, sometimes upper margin erose, apex acute, mucronate. Utricles brown, obliquely patent, slightly longer than glume, broadly ovate or ovoid, obtusely trigonous, 3-4 mm, leathery, glabrous, slightly shiny, indistinctly veined, base subrounded, apex abruptly narrowed to a slightly broad and short beak, orifice shortly 2-toothed. Nutlets rather tightly enveloped in utricle, broadly obovate or broadly elliptic, trigonous, ca. 2.8 mm, base shortly stipitate, apex mucronate; style base not thickened; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jun.
More
Plants colonial; rhizomes long-creeping. Culms central, slender, trigonous, 25–60 cm, papillose and scabrous-angled distally. Leaves: basal sheaths brown, bladeless, rapidly disintegrating into fibers; ligules 0.7–1.5 mm, wider than long; blades somewhat glaucous, M-shaped, 1.5–3.2 mm wide, papillose abaxially. Inflorescences 2.5–12 cm; rachis beyond proximal pistillate spikes sharp-angled, often finely scabrous; proximal (1–)2–3(–4) spikes pistillate, not or barely overlapping, ascending; distal spikes erect; terminal 1 spike staminate. Pistillate scales ovate to broadly ovate, apex acute to acuminate-awned, awn to 1.3 mm, glabrous. Perigynia ascending, essentially veinless except for 2 marginal veins, ovoid, 3.1–4.5 × 1.7–2.5 mm, glabrous; beak 0.4–0.8 mm, bidentulate, teeth straight, 0.2–0.3 mm.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality -
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.25 - 0.6
Root system rhizome
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Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Light -
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Hardiness (USDA) 6-10

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
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Optimum temperature (C°) -
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Distribution

Carex heterostachya world distribution map, present in China, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), and United States of America

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:300146-1
WFO ID wfo-0000347427
COL ID R9N6
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Carex haematostachys Carex heterostachya Carex bungeana