Carex torreyi Tuckerm. 

 Cyperaceae 

 Torrey's sedge 



Description 



1. General description: Multiple-spiked sedge that typically 

 forms tufts of plants; with mostly 3 stigmas, and trigonous 

 achenes which are pubescent. The staminate and pistillate 

 spikes are on the same culm, the bracts are sheathless, and 

 the leaf blades are well-developed (from Hermann 1970) . One 

 population was maturing fruit on 11 June 1994. On 2 July most 

 plants in two other populations were in late fruit stage, and 

 many fruits had already dispersed. Investigation of one site 

 in late August did not locate any fruits. 



2. Technical description: Cespitose from short-prolonged 

 rootstocks; culms slender, erect, 2.5-4 dm. high, short- 

 pubescent, very rough above, red-tinged at the base, usually 

 exceeding the leaves; leaves 2 or 3 to a culm, on the lower 

 one-third of the culms, short-pilose, flat with somewhat 

 revolute margins, 1.5-3.2 5 mm wide, the sheaths tight, soft- 

 pubescent, cinnamon-brown tinged, deeply concave at the mouth, 

 the conspicuous ligule longer than wide; terminal spike 

 staminate, linear-clavate, usually short-peduncled, 8-16 mm. 

 long, 2-4 mm wide; pistillate spices 1-3, short-oblong, -12 mm 

 long, 4-7 mm wide, closely 10-25-f lowered, erect, sessile of 

 short-peduncled, approximate or the lowest somewhat separate; 

 bracts sheathless or nearly so, the lowest as long as or 

 longer than the inflorescence, the uppermost much smaller; 

 scales ovate-orbicular, the lower acuminate, the upper acute, 

 about half the length of the perigynia, reddish- to brownish- 

 yellow with broad hyaline margins and three-nerved, green 

 center; perigynia ascending, broadly ovoid or obovoid, 2.5-3.2 

 mm long, 1.9-2.2 mm wide, obscurely trigonous in cross- 

 section, round-tapering at the base into a broad stipe, 

 puncticulate, glabrous, yellowish-green, strongly many-ribbed 

 (fine) , abruptly rounded and depressed at the apex and 

 abruptly short-truncate-beaked; achenes obovoid, trigonous 

 with concave sides, 2.5-1.75 mm, substipitate, and short- 

 apiculate (Hermann 1970) . 



3. Diagnostic characteristics: The most distinguishing 

 character of the species is its inflated perigynium with a 

 short, 0.1 to 0.6 mm (.004-. 02 3 in) beak. It somewhat 

 resembles a very minute watermelon, which tapers slightly 

 towards the base, with a short but obvious beak on top. In 

 addition, the lower bracts are sheathless or nearly so, and 

 the lowest bract is shorter or egual to the length of the 

 infloresence. Lower spikes are mostly erect, and the terminal 

 spike is entirely staminate (from Hermann) . 



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