Grasses List |
Sedge Club- & Spike-Rush Family [Cyperaceae] |
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circular holesex
9th June 2018, ex-rly, Waitby Greenriggs, Kirby Stephen, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
Grows to 65cm high in loosely-tufted gatherings. The roots are short and rhizomatous. |
9th June 2018, ex-rly, Waitby Greenriggs, Kirby Stephen, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The lowest bract, which has a long sheath, (one is on the plant second from the right at the bottom) is shorter than the inflorescence (but only because the flower spikes are very widely separated; the last being several inches down the stem from the long but narrower male inflorescence at the top!). |
9th June 2018, ex-rly, Waitby Greenriggs, Kirby Stephen, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The inflorescence starts at the summit with a long spike of male flowers (more than one on some specimens). A distance below that is the first female flower spike with a bract beneath it which overtops that flower. Much further down the stem is another female flower with an even longer bract (which may be sheathed) just below that. [There may be a third female flower with a bract some distance below that too]. The leaves are between 2 to 5mm wide and yellowish green |
9th June 2018, ex-rly, Waitby Greenriggs, Kirby Stephen, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The stems are smooth to the touch and bulged-triangular in cross-section, with one side being slightly narrower than the other two as in an isosceles bulged-triangle. The stem may also be slightly keeled with a narrow ridge down it, as in the specimen above.
On this specimen, there is a long brown male spike at the top (as usual) but the female spike below that with green fruits also has a (shorter) male spike associated with it. |
9th June 2018, ex-rly, Waitby Greenriggs, Kirby Stephen, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The other side of the stem is more rounded. There is a sheathed bract emerging from some way below this female inflorescence. |
Although native it is rare in the British lowlands. It prefers base-rich wet flushes in bogs, or calcareous fens, mires, marshes, and valley bogs or wet rock ledges in the mountains. It also occurs near the sea.
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Carex | hostiana | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Cyperaceae |
Carex (Sedges) |
Sedge Club- & Spike-Rush Family [Cyperaceae] |