View source for Carex spissa

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Carex spissa
|accepted_authority=L. H. Bailey
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts
|place=22: 70. 1887
|year=1887
}}
|basionyms=
|synonyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Carex spissa var. ultra
|authority=(L. H. Bailey) Kükenthal
|rank=variety
}} {{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Carex ultra
|authority=
|rank=species
}}
|hierarchy=Cyperaceae;Carex;Carex sect. Hispidae;Carex spissa
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Cyperaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Carex]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>section</small>[[Carex sect. Hispidae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>species</small>[[Carex spissa]]</div></div>
|volume=Volume 23
|mention_page=page 420
|treatment_page=page 423
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Culms </b>obtusely angled, 110 cm × 5 mm, glabrous. <b>Leaves</b>: sheaths with red-brown spots, to 60 cm, backs green or red tinged, fronts membranous, apex concave to V-shaped; blades 120 cm × 7–18 mm, leathery, margins revolute, prominently keeled, antrorsely scabrous on margins and keel, glaucous when young, glossy adaxially, surface papillose abaxially. <b>Inflorescences</b> with 5–20 spikes, 25–80 cm; pistillate spikes 4–10, 3–13 cm × 10–12 mm. <b>Scales</b> red-brown with broad yellow-brown midrib, oblong, 3.5 × 1 mm, margins hyaline, apex acuminate or retuse, awn 0.5–3 mm, ciliate. <b>Anthers</b> 3–4 mm. <b>Perigynia</b> pale brown, with uniformly distributed red-brown spots, somewhat flattened to strongly inflated distally, 3.5–4.8 × 1.5–2.5 mm, base cuneate, apex obtuse, somewhat glaucous; beak red-brown, flared, abaxially obliquely bidentately cut, 0.5 mm. <b>Achenes</b> dark brown, stipitate, ellipsoid, 2 × 1.2 mm.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|phenology=Fruiting Apr–Jun.
|habitat=Stream banks, wet seeps, sometimes on serpentine
|elevation=lower than 600 m in Calif.
|distribution=Ariz.;Calif.;N.Mex.;Mexico.
|discussion=<p><i>Carex spissa</i> has been divided into three taxa, distinguished in the extreme as <i>C. spissa</i> with glabrous, few-veined, strongly inflated perigynia; C. ultra with glabrous, veined, flattened perigynia; and C. seatoniana with hispid, veined, somewhat inflated perigynia and short-awned or acuminate scales. Intermediates between all three varieties are more frequent than the typical extremes (F. J. Hermann 1970). No consistent patterns of variation in perigynium or scale morphology can be determined or correlated with geographic distribution although considerable variation, particularly in perigynium morphology, is present. Further research based on analysis of variation at the population level may provide insights into relationships and differentiation within the problematic taxon. <i>Carex spissa</i> is distinguished from the related <i>C. pringlei</i> L. H. Bailey by the obovoid, rather than ovoid or elliptic, perigynia, and the abrupt, rather than tapering, beak as well as by habitat. <i>Carex</i> pringlei appears to be restricted to wet, saline soils and is not known from north of Mexico.</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

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-->{{#Taxon:
name=Carex spissa
|authority=L. H. Bailey
|rank=species
|parent rank=section
|synonyms=Carex spissa var. ultra;Carex ultra
|basionyms=
|family=Cyperaceae
|phenology=Fruiting Apr–Jun.
|habitat=Stream banks, wet seeps, sometimes on serpentine
|elevation=lower than 600 m in Calif.
|distribution=Ariz.;Calif.;N.Mex.;Mexico.
|reference=None
|publication title=Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts
|publication year=1887
|special status=
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/f50eec43f223ca0e34566be0b046453a0960e173/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V23/V23_775.xml
|genus=Carex
|section=Carex sect. Hispidae
|species=Carex spissa
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Carex sect. Hispidae]]