Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

BOG SEDGE

(Carex oligosperma Michx.)


Perigynium
Bog sedge
Figure 35 - Perigynium

SEDGE FAMILY (Cyperaceae)

IND. STATUS: OBL

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A perennial sedge forming rhizomatous mats (may form a turf) and having stems 40 to 100 cm. tall. The pale green, wiry leaf blades are inrolled (involute) and are less than 3 mm. wide. Stems are glabrous and purplish at the base. Usually only a solitary staminate spikelet is present while pistillate spikelets number 1 to 3. The ascending perigynia number 3-15 (less than 18), are ovoid, and over 2 mm. wide with a 1-2 mm. beak.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Sterile plants of this sedge may be confused with Carex lanuginosa whose leaf blades are revolute. This sedge is common in open bogs and conifer bogs, but may also occur in fresh (wet) meadows, lake shores, and marshes.

SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991); Swink and Wilhelm (1994); and Voss (1972).


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