FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
All Carex spp. have "v" shaped leaf blades with distinctive keels. All sedges also have triangular flowering stems (in cross-section). Identification to species requires mature fruits and seeds (achenes).
Description: A medium-sized, grass-like sedge usually 0.3 to 0.7 m tall. Stems solid and triangular.
Leaves: Fine leaves with distinct linear indent, or keel, at midrib.
Flowers/Fruit: Groups of spiny, toothed perigynia on long flowering stems. Inflorescence contains male and female flowers crowded in separate cylindrical clusters on the same plant. All Carex species share the feature of seeds (achenes) being completely encompassed by an outer covering (perigynium). Flowers and fruits May through June.
Habit and Range: Swamps, pocosins, seepage bogs statewide.
