FLEA SEDGE

Carex pulicaris

Sedge Club- & Spike-Rush Family [Cyperaceae]

round hole

sex

16th May 2006, cliff path, Bouldnor, IoW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

A possibly sodden sod of Flea Sedge - the spikes grow up to 30cm long. .

[ignore the pale-green grass-like interloping 'photo bomber' coming into the frame from lower right].

16th May 2006, cliff path, Bouldnor, IoW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

Initially the florescence has a long narrow brown spike at the top and many much shorter green florets below.

16th May 2006, cliff path, Bouldnor, IoW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

The long green leaves are very narrow. The flower spike is 10 to 25mm long with reddish-brown glumes.

3rd July 2013, Noar Hill, Hampshire.

Photo: © Dawn Nelson

A little later in the year and they turn to fruits which are brown. In the frame is a green flowerless leaf crossing it higher up.

3rd July 2013, Noar Hill, Hampshire.

The male flowers are at the top with the female flowers (utricals) angled upwards and later downwards below them which are complete with 2 long stigmas here (which drop off). The flowers (utricals) are between 3.5 to 6mm long. They have a beak which is 0.2 to 0.5mm long and two long stigmas at the end (they must be twisted closely together in this specimen).

3rd July 2013, Noar Hill, Hampshire.

The stems are angular (in places) for sedges. Sedges have edges. The long stigmas have dropped off the lower female flowers. They have a green bulge close to the stem where they emerge. The beaks left at the end of the fruit are 0.2 to 0.5mm long. The leaf crossing behind it is more rounded than the flowering stalk.

3rd July 2013, Noar Hill, Hampshire.

The beaks at the tips of the fruits.

It is native and grows in fens, flushes and bogs usually on limey soils over most of the British Isles except in the central zone and the East where it is absent.

Carex

pulicaris

⇐ Global Aspect ⇒

Cyperaceae

Distribution
family8Sedge Club- & Spike-Rush family8Cyperaceae
BSBI maps

Carex
(Sedges)