woolly sedge

LC - Least Concern

N5? - Secure

SNR - Unranked

not listed

OBL - Obligate wetland

OBL - Obligate wetland

OBL - Obligate wetland

Woolly sedge is a common, widespread, easily recognized, true sedge. It is one of the most widespread sedges in North America. It occurs across the United States from Maine and northern Virginia in the east to northern Washington and central California in the west. It also occurs across southern Canada. It is very common in Minnesota, where it has been recorded in each of the state’s 87 counties. It is found in wet meadows, marshes, limy (calcareous) fens, shrubby wetlands (carrs), swampy woodlands, and ditches; on streambanks and lake shores; and in small, moist, disturbed areas. It is also found in dry meadows and on low sand dunes. It is especially common in areas with calcareous soils, but it is also found in areas with neutral soils. It is not found in bogs and other acidic peatlands.

Woolly sedge is a perennial sedge that rises on one or a few stems (culms) from a horizontal underground stem (rhizome). The rhizome is well-developed and long creeping, up to 12″ (30 cm) long. It forms large colonies, but the stems are well spaced, not clumped.

Non-fertile (vegetative) culms are relatively short, 4¾″ to 12″ (12 to 30 cm) tall. They are actually false stems, composed almost entirely of a series of overlapping leaf sheaths. The lowermost leaves on these stems are reduced to nearly bladeless sheaths.

Flowering (fertile) culms are 12″ to 40″ (30 to 100 cm) tall. They are taller than the vegetative culms but do not rise above the leaves. They are acutely triangular, light green, tinged reddish-purple at the base, hairless, and usually rough to the touch on the edges. The base of the stem does not have the remains of last year’s leaves.

The leaves are green, slighty yellowish, 1¼″ to 24″ (3 to 60 cm) long, and 1⁄16″ to ¼″ (2 to 6 mm) wide. They are flat or M-shaped in cross section. The middle channel is tight, and the midvein forms a prominent, sharp keel. They are tapered to a long, pointed tip, but the tip is not prolonged. The margins near the tip are rolled under. The blade surface is hairless and is not covered with a whitish bloom (glaucous). The inner face of the sheath at first is membranous and yellowish at the top. It soon becomes bronzish and breaks into horizontal ladder-like fibers as it ages. The tip of the leaf sheath is deeply concave, U-shaped, and is hairless, not fringed. The ligule is thin, membranous, and 1⁄16″ to ½″ (2 to 12 mm) wide. The lowermost leaves are reduced to nearly bladeless sheaths. The lowermost leaf sheaths are reddish-purple and composed of numerous fine fibers. They sometimes break into horizontal ladder-like fibers as they age.

Each flowering stem terminates in a 2″ to 12″ (5 to 30 cm) long inflorescence consisting of 1 to 4 male (staminate) spikes above 1 to 3 female (pistillate) spikes. The end (terminal) spike is on a ¾″ to 3½″ (2 to 9 cm) long stalk (peduncle). The remaining (lateral) spikes are stalkless or nearly stalkless.

The staminate spikes are erect, cylindrical, linear or narrowly oblong, and ¾″ to 2⅜″ (20 to 60 mm) long. Each spike is composed of numerous, densely overlapping flowers. Each staminate flower is composed of 3 stamens and is subtended by a single scale. The scale is ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ (3 to 5 mm) long and light reddish-brown with a lighter center and white margins.

The pistillate spikes are ascending, cylindrical, narrowly oblong in outline, ⅜″ to 2″ (10 to 50 mm) long, and 3⁄16″ to 5⁄16″ (5 to 8 mm) wide. Each spike is composed of numerous densely overlapping flowers. Each flower is surrounded by a sac-like structure (perigynium) and is subtended by a single scale. The scale is lance-shaped to egg-shaped. At the tip the sides are straight (acute) or concave (acuminate), and it may end in a short, bristle-like extension (awn). The surface is hairless but may be rough to the touch near the tip.

Each perigynium is ascending, swollen, hard, broadly egg-shaped, ⅛″ to 3⁄16″ (2.4 to 5.2 mm) long, and 1⁄16″ to ⅛″ (1.7 to 2.8 mm) wide. It is abruptly contracted at the tip into a short, 1⁄32″ to 1⁄16″ (0.8 to 1.6 mm) long beak. The beak is firm and is divided at the tip into two 1⁄64″ to 1⁄32″ (0.4 to 0.8 mm) long teeth. The perigynium surface is densely covered with short hairs that obscure the veins.

The fruit is an achene with 3 stigmas.

12″ to 40″ (30 to 100 cm)

Woolly-fruit sedge (Carex lasiocarpa) leaves and bracts are narrower and tightly rolled, wire-like.

Wet meadows, dry meadows, marshes, calcareous fens, carrs, swampy woodlands, ditches, streambanks, lake shores, sand dunes, and disturbed areas.

May to June

Late May to early August

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30, 84.

Native

Very common

Found this growing on the shore in my buffer.

Location: Lake Shore, Cass County

Found this growing on the shore in my buffer.