SEDGE FAMILY (Cyperaceae)
IND. STATUS: OBL
FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A stout perennial with triangular stems 5-12 dm. in height. Leaves are coarse, M-shaped, bluish-green, 1 m. or more long, and 8-15 mm. wide. Basal sheaths are reddened and have open, feather-like (pinnate) fibers. Pistillate spikelets number 2-4, are 2-10 cm. long, and are sessile or on short stalks. Staminate spikelets number 2-4. The perigynium is 5.5-7.3 mm. long, without hairs, distinctly ribbed, and gradually tapers into a beak. The nutlet is three-angled.
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ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Lake sedge is a very common sedge found in shallow marshes, shrub-carrs, alder thickets, wooded swamps, sedge meadows, and borders of lakes and streams. This persistent emergent forms scattered clones or beds.
SOURCE: Fernald (1970); Gleason and Cronquist (11991); and Voss (1972).