Carex saxatilis

Linnaeus

Sp. Pl. 2: 976. 1753.

Common names: Carex saxatile
Illustrated
Synonyms: Carex ambusta Boott Carex compacta R. Brown ex Dewey Carex miliaris Michaux Carex physocarpa C. Presl Carex rhomalea (Fernald) Mackenzie
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 23. Treatment on page 503. Mentioned on page 500, 502, 506, 507.

Plants usually loosely cespitose; rhizomes short, congested. Culms trigonous in cross-section, 8–90 cm, scabrous distally. Leaves: basal sheaths reddish-brown; ligules as wide as to slightly longer than wide; blades mid to dark green, V-shaped, sometimes with revolute margins, 0.9–6.3 mm wide, glabrous. Inflorescences 2.5–14 (–20) cm; proximal bract 0.6–16 (–29) cm, shorter than or equaling inflorescence; proximal 1–3 spikes pistillate, erect or the proximal often pendent; terminal 1–3 spikes staminate. Pistillate scales ovate, 1.9–4.3 (–5) × 0.9–2.1 mm, as long as or shorter than perigynia, margins entire, apex obtuse or acute, awnless. Perigynia ascending, often dark-colored, obscurely few-veined, veins not running to beak, tightly investing achene, elliptic, 2.2–5.5 × 1.1–2.9 mm, apex abruptly contracted; beak 0.2–0.8 mm, bidentulate, teeth straight, to 0.3 mm. Stigmas 2. Achenes yellow, biconvex, smooth. 2n = 78, 80.


Phenology: Fruiting summer.
Habitat: Fens, bogs, wet tundra, roadside ditches, shores of lakes, ponds, and slow moving streams, often in shallow water
Elevation: 0–3700 m

Distribution

V23 934-distribution-map.jpg

Greenland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Nunavut, Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon, Alaska, Colo., Maine, Mont., Utah, Wash., Wyo., Eurasia

Discussion

Carex saxatilis is highly variable in North America. Plants from western North America, often named C. physocarpa, tend to be robust with long peduncles on the pistillate spikes, wide leaves, and large perigynia. These characters decrease in size eastward across North America with successively smaller plants usually referred to as C. saxatilis and C. miliaris. This weak east/west cline is confounded by large amounts of variation within small geographic areas and phenotypic plasticity. B. A. Ford et al. (1991) and B. A. Ford and P. W. Ball (1992) have demonstrated that these segregates represent elements in a continuum rather than discrete taxa.

Hybrids between Carex saxatilis and C. vesicaria (= C. ×stenolepis Lessing; = C. ×mainensis Porter ex Britton) and C. saxatilis and C. utriculata (= C. ×physocarpoides Lepage) have been found in North America (B. A. Ford et al. 1993). These hybrids are infrequent, largely sterile, and intermediate in morphology between the two parents.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"shortened" is not a number.

... more about "Carex saxatilis"
biconvex +
not papillose +
acute;obtuse +
A. A. Reznicek +  and Bruce A. Ford +
Linnaeus +
not +  and fibrous +
truncate +  and rounded +
Vesicariae +
bidentulate +
emarginate +  and bidentate +
0.02 cm0.2 mm <br />2.0e-4 m <br /> (0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br />) +
v--shaped +
0.09 cm0.9 mm <br />9.0e-4 m <br /> (0.63 cm6.3 mm <br />0.0063 m <br />) +
glumaceous +  and foliaceous +
2-ranked +  and arranged +
ascending +  and appressed +
scale-like +  and leaflike +
parallel +  and divergent +
terete +, rolled +  and plicate +
Carex saxatile +
brown +, reddish-brown +  and reddish purple +
trigonous +
8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br /> (90 cm900 mm <br />0.9 m <br />) +
Greenland +, St. Pierre and Miquelon +, Alta. +, B.C. +, Man. +, N.B. +, Nfld. and Labr. +, N.W.T. +, N.S. +, Nunavut +, Ont. +, Que. +, Sask. +, Yukon +, Alaska +, Colo. +, Maine +, Mont. +, Utah +, Wash. +, Wyo. +  and Eurasia +
0–3700 m +
open +, pistillate +  and staminate +
hypogynous +  and subtending +
biconvex +  and trigonous +
Fens, bogs, wet tundra, roadside ditches, shores of lakes, ponds, and slow moving streams, often in shallow water +
14 cm140 mm <br />0.14 m <br /> (20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br />) +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (14 cm140 mm <br />0.14 m <br />) +
prophyllate +, pedunculate +  and pistillate +
multi-ranked +, 2-ranked +, 3-ranked +  and alternate +
basal +  and cauline +
slightly longer than wide +
with (1-)3-6(-30) bristles and/or scales +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
Fruiting summer. +
2-3(-4)-carpellate +
3 (?) +  and 1 (?) +
short-sheathed +, sheathless +  and leaflike +
16 cm160 mm <br />0.16 m <br /> (29 cm290 mm <br />0.29 m <br />) +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (16 cm160 mm <br />0.16 m <br />) +
adventitious +
0.43 cm4.3 mm <br />0.0043 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
green +  and dark-brown +
basal +  and proximal +
0.09 cm0.9 mm <br />9.0e-4 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
septate-nodulose +
Illustrated +
staminate +  and pistillate +
1 +  and 3 +
septate +, hollow +  and solid +
compressed +, terete +  and trigonous +
papillate +
persistent +
2-3(-4)-fid +
Carex ambusta +, Carex compacta +, Carex miliaris +, Carex physocarpa +  and Carex rhomalea +
Carex saxatilis +
Carex sect. Vesicariae +
species +
straight +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br />) +
0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br /> (0.55 cm5.5 mm <br />0.0055 m <br />) +
0.11 cm1.1 mm <br />0.0011 m <br /> (?) +  and 0.29 cm2.9 mm <br />0.0029 m <br /> (?) +
plant +  and cespitose +