Swollen Sedge
Scientific Name: Carex rostrata Stokes
Family: Cyperaceae
MORPHOLOGY
Habit and Dimensions: Herbaceous perennial plant, 30-80 cm tall; rhizome very robust with rather long internodes.
Stem: Smooth stem, rarely somewhat rough towards the top, obtusely triangular or cylindrical. Basal sheaths squamiform, entire then fibrous, dark brown often spotted with red.
Leaves: Stiff, glaucous leaves, 2-7 mm wide, more or less channelled, rough at the margins, longer than the stem.
Flowers: Elongated inflorescence, light green, (10) 20-25 cm long, composed of 2-4 male spikes and (2) 3-5 female spikes. Male spikes 2-7 cm long, from linear to narrowly fusiform; glume 5-6 mm, brown, narrowly oblong, with narrow scarious margin, obtuse or subacute apex. Female spikes 3-8 cm long, 6-8 (10) mm wide, generally cylindrical, spaced, densely flowered, the upper one often androgynous with male flowers at the apex, upper spikes erect, lower ones pendulous, sessile; glume 3-5.5 mm, lanceolate or oblong, with acute apex, much shorter than the utricle, reddish-brown, those of the middle zone almost always with scarious margin. Blooms between April and July.
Fruits and Seeds: The fruits are utricles (pseudanthecia) 4-5 x 2-2.5 flask-shaped with elongated beak of 1.1-1.3 mm, bifid, glabrous, pale green, with prominent veins. Achenes 1.3-1.7 x 1-1.2 mm, obovate, trigonous, brown.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Present in much of Italy excluding the major islands, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Umbria, and Marche. Common in aquatic environments, along the banks and shores of canals, watercourses, ditches, and marshes. Found between 0 and 2,200 m.
Photo: Under the free license of Saxifraga and Rutger Barendse, Peter Meininger.
