Inland Sedge (Carex interior)
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: April-June.
- Field Marks: The small cluster of female spikes is widely separated on the stem. The tips of the perigynia radiate to resemble a tiny star. The male flowers are borne below the female spikes. The leaves are very narrow.
- Habitat: Swamps, wet meadows.
- Habit: Tufted annual with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Erect, very slender, wiry, smooth, up to 1 1/2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, very slender, smooth, about 1/12 inch broad, shorter than the flowering stem.
- Flowers: Male and female flowers borne separately; the male flowers sparse, usually below the pistillate spikes; the pistillate spikes 2-4, widely separated, each consisting of 1-10 spreading perigynia.
- Scales: Ovate, obtuse, shorter than the perigynia.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; the perigynium narrowly ovate, flattened, sparsely veined, somewhat spongy near the base, up to 1/6 inch long, narrowed to a short, toothed beak.
- Fruits: Achenes ovate, flattened, smooth.
- Notes: The achenes are eaten by waterfowl. Although the National Wetlands Inventory lists area 2 in the range of this species, there is no evidence that it occurs in the southeastern United States.
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