Carex joorii

Illustrator: Susan A. Reznicek

Copyright: Flora of North America Association

Culms to 125 cm. Leaves: sheaths glaucous, fronts indistinctly veined, veins not persisting, apex thin, truncate or irregularly convex; blades 120 cm × 7–10 mm, glabrous. Inflorescences with 5–7 spikes, 30 cm; peduncle of lateral spikes to 6 cm; proximal bracts equaling inflorescences, 3–6 mm wide; lateral spikes divergent, 3–6 cm × 6–8 mm. Pistillate scales shorter and narrower than perigynia, apex acute, awn to 3 mm. Perigynia strongly divergent, red-brown, angles veined, faces prominently 6–8-veined, sessile, widely elliptic or somewhat obovate, 3.5–4.5 × 2.8–3.2 mm, base rounded, apex ± truncate proximal to beak, densely papillose with low, oblong or, rarely, minute, rounded papillae, not markedly glaucous; beak 0.3–0.5 mm, entire or minutely bidentate, teeth to 0.1 mm. Achenes rhomboid, 2.5–3 × 2.5–3 mm, base conspicuously broadened.

Phenology: Fruiting Aug–Sep.
Habitat: Seasonally saturated or inundated soils in moist, swampy, or bottomland woods, or stream banks
Elevation: 0–800 m

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., Ky., La., Md., Miss., Mo., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.

Discussion

Carex joorii is more robust than C. glaucescens and can be distinguished from C. glaucesens and C. verrucosa by the acute apex of the scale body, the strongly veined, squarrose perigynia with low, flattened papillae, and the broadened base of the achene. Occasional specimens have been observed with papillae characteristic of C. glaucescens; such specimens may result from hybridization.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.