Carex stipata Muhl. ex Willd.
awl-fruited Sedge (Lingbye's Sedge; owlfruit sedge; sawbeak sedge)
Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
awl-fruited Sedge (Lingbye's Sedge; owlfruit sedge; sawbeak sedge)
Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Carex stipata var. stipata
Species Information
General:
Perennial, densely tufted herb from short fibrous roots; stems 30-100 cm tall, usually a few together, about equalling the leaves, the lower ones reduced, 3-angled, the angles winged and saw-toothed above.
Leaves:
Sheaths cross-wrinkled; blades 3 to 6 per stem, borne on the lower 1/2, or sometimes the lower 3/4 of the stem, flat, 5-11 mm wide, the lower ones reduced.
Flowers:
Spikes numerous, usually densely aggregated into a cylindrical or egg-shaped, 3- to 10-cm long head, usually more or less separate below, egg-shaped, 2-3.5 cm long, unstalked, with both female and male flowers, the inconspicuous male flowers towards the tips; bracts short, inconspicuous, the lowest one usually hairlike, prolonged, 2-10 cm long.
Fruits:
Perigynia narrowly triangular, 4-5.2 mm long, 1.5-1.8 mm wide, plano-convex, strongly nerved, spreading, yellow to brownish-translucent, smooth, very short-stalked, finely toothed above, the beaks about the length of the bodies, bidentate; female scales egg-shaped, narrower, about the length of the perigynia, brownish-translucent, the midribs greenish and prolonged into awns, the margins translucent; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.5-2 mm long.
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Green
Blooming Period:
Mid Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Spring to Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Carex stipata
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
574 | 207 | 1750 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
3 | 0 | 18 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
300 | 0 | 337 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
6 | 5 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
D | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
11 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CWH | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
CWH(4), ESSF(1), ICH(3), PP(2) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Swamps, ditches, streambanks, lakeshores and wet meadows in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; frequent in BC S of 56degreeN, rare on the Queen Charlotte Islands; amphiberingian, N to AK, E to NF and S to ME, MA, PA, NC, GA, AL, MS, OK, NM, AZ and OR; E Asia.Status Information
Taxonomic Notes
View a video on identification of Carex stipata by Tony Reznicek (University of Michigan).
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