General:
Perennial herb from stout, creeping rhizomes; stems 10-60 cm tall, arising singly or a few together, equalling or longer than the leaves.
Leaves:
Sheaths tight, hairy below; ligules short; blades 2 to 4 per stem, flat or somewhat channeled, borne on the lower 1/3 to 1/2 of the stem, 1-3 mm wide.
Flowers:
Spikes solitary, either male or female on separate plants, the male spikes cylindrical, erect, the female spikes many-flowered, similar, 1.5-4 cm long, 2.5-5 mm wide, unstalked; bracts scalelike, prolonged into awns up to 2 cm long or sometimes awnless.
Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped to elliptical or nearly globe-shaped, 2.5-4.5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, appressed, slightly spreading at maturity, straw-coloured, short-hairy on the backs, especially towards the tips, obscurely several-nerved, unstalked to short-stalked, the beaks bidentate, evident, short, slender; female scales broadly egg-shaped, slightly shorter and as wide as the perigynia, rounded, brown to blackish, the centres pale, the margins narrowly translucent; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, about 1.5-2 mm long.
Notes:
Three varieties occur in BC.
1. Perigynia egg-shaped to elliptical, mostly 3-4.5 mm long and more than 2.5 times as long as wide; achenes distinctly stalked; plants of moist sites mainly of W BC..................... var. stenochlaena Holm
1. Perigynia nearly globe-shaped, mostly 2.5-3 mm long and less than 2.5 times as long as wide; achenes short-stalked or unstalked; plants of mesic to dry sites in SC BC or N and SE BC.
2. Stems with the lowest leaves reduced to scales, the flowering ones arising from the current year's vegetative shoots which have conspicuous basal scale leaves; plants mainly of N and SE BC......................... var. scirpoidea
2. Stems with the lowest leaves well developed, clothed at bases with the conspicuous dried-up leaves of the previous year; plants mainly in the Cascades...................... var. pseudoscirpoidea (Rydb.) Cronq.
Flower Colour:
Green
Blooming Period:
Early Summer
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
Elevation
(metres) |
1765 | 7 | 2682 |
Slope
Gradient (%) |
26 | 0 | 110 |
Aspect (degrees) |
202 | 2 | 360 |
Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 8 |
Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
#
of field plots species was recorded in: |
296 | ||
Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ESSF | ||
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(35), BAFA(46), BWBS(9), CMA(2), CWH(1), ESSF(81), ICH(2), IDF(2), IMA(8), MH(10), MS(5), SBPS(1), SBS(3), SWB(31) | ||
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
Scientific Name | Origin Status | Provincial Status | BC List (Red Blue List) | COSEWIC |
---|---|---|---|---|
Carex scirpoidea ssp. pseudoscirpoidea | Native | S3S5 | Yellow | Not Listed |
Carex scirpoidea ssp. scirpoidea | Native | S5 | Yellow | Not Listed |
Carex scirpoidea ssp. stenochlaena | Native | S5? | Yellow | Not Listed |
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Carex scirpoidea var. convoluta Kük.