Crowfoot Sedge (Carex crus-corvi)
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: May-July.
- Field Marks: This well-marked sedge is distinguished by its large spikes and the large perigynium with the beak at least twice as long as the rest of the perigynium.
- Habitat: Wet meadows, wet prairies, swamps, floodplain woods.
- Habit: Perennial herb with thickened rootstocks.
- Stems: Erect, several in a clump, strongly triangular, rough to the touch, bluish to dark green, up to 2 1/2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, narrow, bluish to dark green, rough along the edges to the touch, up to 1/2 inch broad.
- Flowers: Male and female borne separately but in the same spike; the male flowers above the female flowers; the spikes up to 10 inches long, up to 2 inches broad.
- Scales: Ovate to lanceolate, pointed at the tip, shorter than the perigynia.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; each perigynium lanceloid, spongy at the base, tapering to a long, minutely toothed beak at least twice as long as the rest of the perigynium, the entire perigynium up to 1/2 inch long.
- Fruits: Achenes brownish, more or less triangular, up to 1/10 inch long.
- Notes: The color of the leaves varies from bluish to dark green. The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.
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