Carex cusickii

Mackenzie ex Piper & Beattie

Fl. N.W. Coast, 72. 1915.

IllustratedEndemic
Basionym: Carex teretiuscula var. ampla L. H. Bailey Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 1: 53. 1889
Synonyms: Carex obovoidea Cronquist
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 23. Treatment on page 280. Mentioned on page 279, 281.

Culms 3–130 cm. Leaves: sheaths adaxially red dotted and usually copper colored at mouth, concave at mouth, prolonged 1–4 (–6) mm beyond base of blade; ligules 4.1–13.7 mm; foliage leaf-blades 10–90 cm × 2.5–5 (–6) mm. Inflorescences bisexual or, occasionally, nearly or wholly unisexual, flexuous and interrupted, proximal 0–5 branches (or spikes) often separated, decompound, (2–) 3–8 × 1–2 cm; basal branch (when present) with 5–21 spikes (or ca. 40 spikes in very condensed inflorescences); proximal internode 4–12 mm. Pistillate scales straw colored or reddish-brown, 2.5–3.4 × 1.5–2.1 mm, as wide as and equaling perigynia. Perigynia spreading, straw colored to light or dark-brown, strongly 7–11-veined abaxially, with median lengthwise groove near base, with or without membranous flap toward apex, lanceovate (body widely ovate to oblate) in outline, plano to biconvex, 2.4–3 × 1.3–1.8 mm, shiny; beak 1–1.3 mm. Achenes broadly ellipsoid to broadly trullate-ovate or obovate in outline, 1.4–1.6 × 0.7–1.1 mm.


Phenology: Fruiting Jun–early Sep.
Habitat: Marshes, wet meadows, swales, sphagnum bogs, and other wet places, especially shores (sometimes on floating mats or rotten logs), also ditches
Elevation: 0–2100 m

Distribution

V23 474-distribution-map.jpg

B.C., Calif., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash., Wyo.

Discussion

Although infrequent or local in most parts of its range, Carex cusickii is fairly common in and west of the Cascade Mountains. Reports of C. cusickii from Utah probably are based on specimens of C. diandra. Carex cusickii is more similar to C. prairea than either species is to C. diandra. Both are typically more robust than the latter, having wider leaves and sometimes larger inflorescences and larger perigynia. The characteristics distinguishing the first two, although seemingly unimportant, are constant and appear to have populational significance. Furthermore, the geographic ranges of the species, although contiguous in the western part of the Cariboo Forest Region of southern British Columbia, are wholly discrete except for the remarkable occurrence of C. prairea in Flathead County, Montana. It remains to be determined if any real overlapping or recombining of characteristics occurs among the several species of section Heleoglochin, or whether the difficulty in drawing precise lines between them in the herbarium is merely the consequence of inadequate specimens and reliance on too few characters.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"shortened" is not a number.

... more about "Carex cusickii"
0.14 cm1.4 mm <br />0.0014 m <br /> (0.16 cm1.6 mm <br />0.0016 m <br />) +
broadly ellipsoid;broadly trullate-ovate or obovate +
smaller +
0.7mm;1.1mm +
acute;cuspidate +
Theodore S. Cochrane +
Mackenzie ex Piper & Beattie +
tapered +  and rounded +
Carex teretiuscula var. ampla +
bidentate +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br />) +
v--shaped +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
glumaceous +  and foliaceous +
2-ranked +  and arranged +
ascending +  and appressed +
scale-like +  and leaflike +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (?) +  and 2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (?) +
parallel +  and divergent +
terete +, rolled +  and plicate +
brown +  and dark-brown +
round +  and trigonous +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (130 cm1,300 mm <br />1.3 m <br />) +
B.C. +, Calif. +, Idaho +, Mont. +, Oreg. +, Wash. +  and Wyo. +
0–2100 m +
membranous +
open +, pistillate +  and staminate +
hypogynous +  and subtending +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (90 cm900 mm <br />0.9 m <br />) +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
biconvex +  and trigonous +
Marshes, wet meadows, swales, sphagnum bogs, and other wet places, especially shores (sometimes on floating mats or rotten logs), also ditches +
unisexual +, , +  and bisexual +
sessile +  and pistillate +
multi-ranked +, 2-ranked +, 3-ranked +  and alternate +
basal +  and cauline +
0.41 cm4.1 mm <br />0.0041 m <br /> (1.37 cm13.7 mm <br />0.0137 m <br />) +
scale-like +
with (1-)3-6(-30) bristles and/or scales +
straw colored +  and light or dark-brown +
0.24 cm2.4 mm <br />0.0024 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br /> (0.18 cm1.8 mm <br />0.0018 m <br />) +
Fruiting Jun–early Sep. +
2-3(-4)-carpellate +
3 (?) +  and 1 (?) +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
Fl. N.W. Coast, +
adventitious +
reddish-brown +  and straw colored +
basal +  and proximal +
2-keeled +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
prolonged +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
Illustrated +  and Endemic +
1 +  and 3 +
septate +, hollow +  and solid +
compressed +, terete +  and trigonous +
papillate +
deciduous +
2-3(-4)-fid +
Carex obovoidea +
Carex cusickii +
Carex sect. Heleoglochin +
species +
plant +  and cespitose +