Carex utriculata Boott
beaked sedge (bottle sedge; Northwest Territory sedge)
Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
beaked sedge (bottle sedge; Northwest Territory sedge)
Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short-creeping rhizomes; stems 30-120 cm tall, triangular, smooth, except slightly rough below the inflorescence, slightly longer than the leaves.
Leaves:
Sheaths tight; ligules as long as wide to slightly wider than long; blades 4 to 8 per stem, cross-walled, borne on the lower 1/2 of the stem, 5-15 mm wide, flat, the margins rolled-under, the lower ones reduced, persistent.
Flowers:
Spikes 4 to 7, the terminal 2 or 3 linear, 1.5-5 cm long, long-stalked, with many male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 4, cylindrical, 2.5-7.5 cm long, with female flowers, or some with male flowers above the female flowers, long-stalked, the lowermost drooping; bracts subtending the lowest spike leaflike, sheathless, the lowest longer than the inflorescence.
Fruits:
Perigynia elliptical, 5-9 mm long, 1.7-3 mm wide, yellowish-green to reddish-brown, somewhat inflated, smooth, shiny, strongly nerved, contracted into long beaks 1.5-3 mm long, the beaks bidentate with straight teeth; female scales lanceolate to egg-shaped, pointed, narrower and shorter than the perigynia, yellowish- to reddish-brown, with 3-nerved, lighter centres and narrow, translucent margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.7-2.4 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
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Green
Blooming Period:
Mid Summer
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Spring to Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Carex utriculata
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) |
1131 | 10 | 2420 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
0 | 0 | 80 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
279 | 2 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
7 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
D | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
1187 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
IDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(2), BG(4), BWBS(56), CDF(8), CWH(41), ESSF(224), ICH(132), IDF(236), MH(3), MS(176), PP(8), SBPS(113), SBS(174), SWB(5) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Swamps, marshes, fens, pools, shorelines and wet meadows in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common throughout BC except absent on the Queen Charlotte Islands; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ME, MA, VA, TN, IA, NE, CO and CA; Greenland, Iceland, Eurasia.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Carex inflata var. utriculata (Boott) Druce
Carex rhynchophysa Fisch., C.A. Mey. & Avé-Lall.
Carex rostrata var. utriculata (Boott) L.H. Bailey