Muskingum Sedge (Carex muskingumensis)
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: May-October.
- Field Marks: This species is readily distinguished by its long, pointed, narrowly elliptical spikes. The perigynia are long and narrow.
- Habitat: Swamps, floodplain woods, bottomland hardwood forests.
- Habit: Perennial herb with thickened rootstocks.
- Stems: Erect, rough to the touch, up to 3 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, narrow, shorter than the stems, smooth, up to 1/4 inch broad.
- Flowers: Male and female borne separately; the male flowers crowded at the base of the female spikelets; each female spikelet narrowly elliptic, pointed at the tip, up to 1 inch long.
- Scales: Lanceolate to ovate, pointed or rounded at the tip, up to 1/6 inch long.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; the perigynium flat, lanceolate, up to 1/2 inch long, finely toothed along the margins and 2-toothed at the tip.
- Fruits: Achenes smooth, narrowly oblong, about 1/16 inch long.
- Notes: The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.
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