Carex gravida


Carex gravida, also known as heavy-fruited sedge, heavy sedge or long-awned bracted sedge, is a tussock-forming species of perennial sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to southern parts of Canada and parts of the United States.

Description

The sedge can form a densely packed turf like arrangement with plants having no obvious rhizomes. It has long culms that are wide at the base and wide at the terminus. The leaves are surrounded by loose sheaths. The wide leaves have green and white striping at the terminal end with transverse veins on the back. The front side is covered in long projections. It forms inflorescences that have five to fifteen spikes that are in length and wide.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by the botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1889 as published in Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club. It has four synonyms;Carex gravida var. laxifolia L.H.Bailey in 1889Carex gravida f. laxifolia Kük. in 1909Carex gravida var. lunelliana F.J.Herm. in 1936Carex lunelliana Mack. in 1915.

Distribution

It is mostly found growing in temperate biomes in south eastern Canada in the province of Saskatchewan in the west through Manitoba to Ontario in the east. In the United States it is found as far west as Montana in the north down to Texas and New Mexico in the south west. The range extends to New York in the north east to around Virginia in the south east. It has been introduced in Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina.