Carex 



CYPERACEAE 



Carex 



BB. 



Hypogynous bristles present: usually without lvs., 



except bracts of the infl.: plants glabrous 7. 



Hypogynous bristles none. 



Style-base persistent, or if deciduous not leaving a 



tumor on the achene : plant glabrous or pubescent 8. 

 Style-base deciduous, leaving a tumor on the achene: 



lvs. long-haii y at the top of the sheath 9. 



EE. Style-base tapering gradually to the achene. 



Achene enclosed by two hyaline hypogynous scales; 



fig. scales with spreading tips 10. 



Achene not enclosed by hypogynous scales: linear 

 hypogynous bristles 0-6; tips of the fig. scales not 



spreading H« 



Fig. scales one or two, with empty ones above and below: style 

 2-parted; base thickened, forming a tubercle or beak on the 

 achene 12. 



Eleoch aris 



Fimbristylis 

 Bulbostylis 



Lipocarpha 



Scirpus 



Rhywchospora 



1. Carex Linn. Sedge WM (T'ai Shu) 



Perennials; grasslike: spikes in the axils of leafy or scale-like bracts: floivers 



unisexual: stamens 3 in the staminate fl.: the pistillate fl. consisting of a single pistil; 



ovary enclosed in a sac (perigynium) borne in the axil of a bract or scale. 8,000 to 



9,000 species, of wide distribution, mostly outside the tropics; 150 species in China. 



The Latin name, probably derived from the Greek, keirein, to cut.) 



Key to the Species 



a. Styles 2-parted. 



b. Terminal spikes partly staminate and partly pistillate. 



c. The terminal spikes pistillate at the base, and staminate 

 above. 



Spikes slender, laxly arranged 1 . C. brunnea 



Spikes closely set or crowded: infl. compound, 4-5x1 



cm., of 8-10 short spikes 2. C. fluviatilis 



var. unisexualis 

 cc. The terminal spikes staminate at the base, and pistillate 

 above. 

 Spikes densely cylindric, slenderly pedicellate, 30-40 x 



4-6 mm 3 . C. cemua 



Spikes ellipsoid, sessile, 8-12 x 3-4 mm 4. C. remota 



bb. The terminal spike staminate, the lateral pistillate 5. C. forsicula 



var. melinacra 

 aa. Styles 3-parted. 



d. Spikes solitary and terminal. 



Spikes bisexual; staminate fls. above the pistillate 



(Primocarex) 6. C. rara 



ssp. capillacea 



Spikes unisexual, large (pistillate, 4-6x3-4 cm.; staminate, 



3 x 1 cm.) 7 . C. macrocephala 



dd. Spikes more than one on a peduncle. 



e. Spikes sessile and bisexual; staminate fls. below the 



pistillate 8. C. gibba 



ee. Spikes pedunculate, mostly unisexual. 



f. Beak of the utricle usually short, not noticeably cleft. 



Sheath of the infl. short (about 5 mm. long) 9. C. breviculmis 



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