categoryZGrasses Grasses List 

HAIR SEDGE

Carex capillaris

Sedge Club- & Spike-Rush Family [Cyperaceae]

month8jul month8july month8aug

category
category8Grasses
 
status
statusZnative
 
flower
flower8brown
male
flower
flower8cream
female
petals
petalsZ0
 
type
typeZspiked
few
stem
stem8triangular
rounded
stem
stem8hollow
oval hole
rarity
rarityZscarce
 
sex
sexZmonoecious
 

28th June 2014, Teesdale. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The plant is short, up to 20cm, but occasionally up to 40cm. It is smooth and 3 sided but the 3 angles are very blunt indeed. It also has a narrow oval channel up the centre. The bottle-shaped utrical is 2.5 to 3mm long with a tapering narrow beak 0.3 to 1mm long.

The male spikelet is between 5 to 10mm long which is unusually for sedges overtopped by 2 to 4 female spikelets which have but few florets.


Not to be semantically confused with : Hairy Sedge (Carex hirta) [a plant with similar name and in the same genus: Carex]

It is a quite rare [RR] to be found in the North Pennines and the Scottish islands in basic soils or calcareous flushes and bogs which are rich in minerals (although the book says not which kind of minerals but one presumes alkaline ones).


  Carex capillaris  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Cyperaceae  

Distribution
 family8Sedge Club- & Spike-Rush family8Cyperaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Carex
Carex
(Sedge)

HAIR SEDGE

Carex capillaris

Sedge Club- & Spike-Rush Family [Cyperaceae]