long-beaked sedge

(Carex sprengelii)

Conservation Status
long-beaked sedge
 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

N5? - Secure

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
Wetland Indicator Status
     
  Great Plains

FACU - Facultative upland

     
  Midwest

FAC - Facultative

     
  Northcentral & Northeast

FAC - Facultative

     
           
 
Description
 
 

Long-beaked sedge, also called Sprengel’s sedge, is a common, easily recognized, woodland sedge. It occurs across northern United States and southern Canada east of the Rocky Mountains. It is very common and widespread in Minnesota, recorded in all but three counties in the state. It is found in deciduous forests, woodlands, and savannas. It grows under light shade or dappled sunlight in dry to moderately moist, loamy or sandy soil.

Long-beaked sedge is an erect, perennial sedge that rises in a loose clump from a horizontal underground, stem (rhizome). It often forms colonies. The rhizome is short, stout, and covered with long coarse fibers. Both sterile (vegetative) and fertile (flowering) shoots are produced, more of the former than the latter. The vegetative shoots are short and are mostly reduced to tufts of basal leaves. The leaves of the previous several years persist, become hair-like, and are densely clustered at the base of the plant.

The leaves are 4 to 15¾ (10 to 40 cm) long and 116 to (2 to 4 mm) wide. They are erect when they first appear, nodding and sometimes creased at the midpoint at maturity. The sheath is hairless, shallowly concave at the tip, white and papery on front, green to papery on back. The sheath of the lowermost leaves is pale brown or straw-colored at the base. The sheaths do not break into horizontal ladder-like fibers as they age, and there is no red or purple coloration at the base of any of the sheaths. They eventually disintegrate into long, conspicuous fibers which persist for several years. The ligule is U-shaped and wider than long. All of the leaves, even at the base, have well-developed blades. The blade is green to light green, long and narrow with straight sides (linear), and flat. The upper surface is hairless but slightly rough to the touch. The lower surface is hairless and smooth. The margins are slightly rough to the touch.

Flowering stems are longer than the leaves, 12 to 36 (30 to 90 cm) tall, and less than 132 (0.5 to 0.7 mm) thick. They are erect, unbranched, leafy, and three-sided with blunt edges. They are hairless, rough to the touch near the top, and tinged brownish at the base. Stem leaves are alternate and ascending to widely spreading.

The inflorescence is 1 to 3 male (staminate) spikes crowded at the tip of the stem and 2 to 3 female (pistillate) spikes widely spaced near the top of the stem.

Staminate spikes are white to straw-colored, narrowly cylinder-shaped, linear, stalkless or nearly stalkless, to ¾ (10 to 35 mm) long, 116 (1.5 to 2.0 mm) wide. They sometimes have a few pistillate florets at the base.

Pistillate spikes are cylinder-shaped, to 1 (10 to 35 mm) long, and 516 to (8 to 10 mm) wide. Most are on slender, nodding or drooping, ¾ to 4 (2 to 10 cm) long stalks. Each spike has 10 to 40 fruit capsules (achenes), and each achene has a sac-like covering (perigynium). The perigynia are somewhat separated, not crowded. At the base of each perigynia is a single modified bract (scale). The scale is lance-shaped to egg-shaped, to 316 (3.5 to 5.0 mm) long, and tapered to a long pointed tip. It is longer than the body of the perigynium but slightly shorter than the beak. It is mostly papery and straw-colored with a narrow green midrib. Each pistillate flower has 3 long, slender stigmas.

The perigynium is egg-shaped (widest at the base) to ellipse-shaped (widest in the middle), 316 to 516 (4.5 to 7.7 mm) long, 116 (1.5 to 2 mm) wide, and circular or nearly circular in cross section. It entirely and tightly envelopes the achene at maturity. It is abruptly contracted into a long beak at the tip. The main body of the perigynia is papery, golden green to nearly straw-colored, and somewhat shiny. It has a single rib on each side but no other obvious veins. The beak is tube-shaped, about as long as the main body, and has two papery teeth at the tip. The long stigmas projecting from the beak persist as the achene matures.

The achene is dry, yellowish-brown, 116 (2.0 to 2.5 mm) long, and triangular in cross section. It matures in mid-May to early June.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

12 to 36 (30 to 90 cm)

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Dry to moderately moist. Deciduous forests, woodlands, and savannas. Light shade or dappled sunlight. Loamy or sandy soil.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Maturing

 
 

Mid-May to early June

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 28, 29, 30, 84.

The only record in Lac qui Parle County is from 1979 and is questionable.

 
  3/24/2022      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Very common and widespread in Minnesota

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Liliopsida (monocots)  
 

Order

Poales (grasses, sedges, cattails, and allies)  
 

Family

Cyperaceae (sedges)  
  Subfamily Cyperoideae  
  Tribe Cariceae  
 

Genus

Carex (true sedges)  
  Subgenus Carex  
  Section Hymenochlaenae  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

 

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

long-beak sedge

long-beaked sedge

longbeak sedge

Sprengel sedge

Sprengel’s sedge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Achene

A dry, one-chambered, single-seeded seed capsule, formed from a single carpel, with the seed attached to the membranous outer layer (wall) only by the seed stalk; the wall, formed entirely from the wall of the superior ovary, does not split open at maturity, but relies on decay or predation to release the contents.

 

Beak

A comparatively short and stout, narrow or prolonged tip on a thickened organ, as on some fruits and seeds.

 

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Ligule

In grasses and sedges, a membranous appendage at the junction of the leaf and the leaf sheath, sometimes no more than a fringe of hairs. In flowering plants, the flat, strap-shaped, petal-like portion of the corolla of a ray floret.

 

Linear

Long, straight, and narrow, with more or less parallel sides, like a blade of grass

 

Perigynium

In Carex and other closely related sedges, a sac-like structure that surrounds the pistillate flower and later encloses the achene. Plural: perigynia.

 

Pistillate

Referring to a flower that has a female reproductive organ (pistil) but does not have male reproductive organs (stamens).

 

Rhizome

A horizontal, usually underground stem. It serves as a reproductive structure, producing roots below and shoots above at the nodes.

 

Scale

On plants, a small, usually flat and thin, modified leaf resembling the scale of a fish. In sedges, a dry, reduced bract at the base of the perianth. On animals, a small rigid plate growing out of an animal’s skin to provide protection. On butterflies and moths, a plate on the surface of the wing providing coloration.

 

Sheath

The lower part of the leaf that surrounds the stem.

 

Spike

The arrangement of an unbranched, elongated inflorescence with stalkless flowers that mature from the base toward the tip. In Cyperaceae, it also denotes a collection of one or more stalkless flowers, each subtended by scales, on a single inflorescence axis.

 

Spikelet

In flowering plants, a small spike. In grasses and sedges, the basic unit of inflorescence. In grasses, composed of usually two glumes and one or more florets. In sedges, a single flower and its single associated scale

 

Staminate

Referring to a flower that has a male reproductive organs (stamens) but does not have a female reproductive organ (pistil).

 

Stigma

In plants, the portion of the female part of the flower that is receptive to pollen. In Lepidoptera, an area of specialized scent scales on the forewing of some skippers, hairstreaks, and moths. In Odonata, a thickened, dark or opaque cell near the tip of the wing on the leading edge.

 
 
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    long-beaked sedge   long-beaked sedge  
           
    long-beaked sedge      
           
 

Inflorescence

 
    long-beaked sedge   long-beaked sedge  
           
 

Infructescence

 
    long-beaked sedge   long-beaked sedge  
           
    long-beaked sedge   long-beaked sedge  

 

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Carex sprengelii - Sprengel's sedge
Matt Lavin
  Carex sprengelii - Sprengel's sedge  
 
About

Sprengel's sedge is a native rhizomatous and loosely bunched sedge often growing in lush open understory including alongside trails and on steep slopes. Standing usually 30-50 cm tall, the pistillate spikes are pendant and each spike bears many perigynia, which have abruptly contracted beaks that are longer than the perigynia body and that lack a bifid tip.

 

 

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Created: 2/29/2020

Last Updated:

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