Plants not cespitose, long-rhizomatous. Culms brown at base. Leaves: basal sheaths not fibrous; sheath fronts herbacous, not differentiated from backs, distal leaves with sheath fronts green-veined; blades V-shaped in cross section when young, glabrous. Inflorescences racemose with 9–37 spikes; proximal bracts shortly leaflike, sheathless; spikes androgynous or unisexual, sessile, without prophylls. Proximal pistillate scales with apex obtuse to cuspidate. Perigynia erect, veined on both faces, sessile, broadly ovate, plano-convex, base rounded, margins sharply to narrowly winged, apex abruptly contracted to beak, glabrous; beak 0.4–1.9(–2.3) mm, with abaxial suture, margins often serrulate, apex slightly bidentate. Stigmas 2. Achenes biconvex, smaller than bodies of perigynia; style deciduous.

Distribution

Temperate regions of Northern Hemisphere.

Discussion

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

Selected References

Catling, P. M., A. A. Reznicek, and B. S. Brookes. 1988. The separation of Carex disticha and Carex sartwellii and the status of Carex disticha in North America. Canad. J. Bot. 66: 2323–2330.

Lower Taxa

Carex disticha, Carex sartwellii

Key

1	Larger perigynia (2.5–)2.8–4.1(–4.6) mm; beak 0.4–1(–1.2) mm; pistillate scales usually pale brown to straw colored at maturity; basal spikes only slightly, if at all, more prominent than middle spikes, inflorescence nearly cylindric except near apex.	Carex sartwellii
1	Larger perigynia (3.8–)4–5.5(–6.1) mm; beak (0.8–)1–1.9(–2.3) mm; pistillate scales reddish brown at maturity; basal spikes usually substantially larger than those nearer middle, inflorescence at maturity usually conspicuously contracted towards middle.	Carex disticha