Carex pauciflora Lightf.
few-flowered sedge (fewflower sedge)
Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
few-flowered sedge (fewflower sedge)
Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from slender rhizomes; stems solitary, arising singly or a few together, stiff, erect, 10-60 cm tall, longer than the leaves.
Leaves:
Sheaths brownish, tight; blades 1 to 3, flat or channeled, 0.5-1.8 mm wide, smooth or sometimes with roughened margins, ascending, the tips long-pointed.
Flowers:
Spikes solitary, 0.5-1.5 cm long, 0.5-1.2 mm wide, with both female and male flowers, the few erect male flowers towards the tips, the lower 1 to 6 flowers female; bractless.
Fruits:
Perigynia few, narrowly lanceolate, 6-7.5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, pale green, becoming brownish-green or straw-coloured, soon reflexed, nearly round in cross-section, membranaceous, smooth, finely-nerved, unstalked, the beaks not differentiated from the bodies; female scales lanceolate, short-awned, as wide as or slightly wider and shorter than the perigynia, brownish, early deciduous, with greener midstripes, the margins often translucent; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.5-2.5 mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Carex pauciflora
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) |
909 | 20 | 2260 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
2 | 0 | 56 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
73 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
6 | 1 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
B | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
322 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
SBS | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BWBS(17), CDF(4), CWH(56), ESSF(75), ICH(56), IDF(3), MH(10), MS(7), SBPS(3), SBS(80), SWB(3) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Bogs and fens in the lowland, montane and subalpine zones; common along the coast and in EC BC, less frequent elsewhere; circumpolar, N to AK and YT, E to NF and S to ME, MA, WV, IN, WI, MN, and NW WA; Eurasia.Status Information
Taxonomic Notes
View a video on identification of Carex pauciflora by Tony Reznicek, University of Michigan.
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