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 large, upright, grass-like sedge with very large, spiny seedheads. Usually 0.5 to 1.5 m tall. Stems solid and triangular.
Leaves: Fine leaves with distinct linear indent, or keel, at midrib.
Flowers/Fruit: Very large, spiny seedheads. Perigynia oriented in upward direction. 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 June through August or September.
Habit and Range: Sunny wet marshes, bottomlands statewide. Less common in the Mountains.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Carex lupulina (hop sedge) is easily confused with Carex lurida (shallow sedge) which is found statewide and has similar but narrower seedheads, sometimes quite elongated. Perigynia in Carex lurida are oriented more at right angles to the seedhead stem and seeds are diamond-shaped with a loop at the tip.
Click here to view Carex lurida.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
