Summary ³

Carex pensylvanica is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family commonly called Pennsylvania sedge (sometimes shortened to Penn sedge). Other common names include early sedge, common oak sedge, and yellow sedge.

At the Garden ⁴

Penn sedge is found in the Thain Family Forest.

Description ⁵

This perennial sedge forms small loose tufts of leafy culms about ½–1¼' tall; both fertile and sterile shoots occur. The culms are unbranched, light green, sharply 3-angled, and glabrous; they have alternate leaves. The leaf blades are 1-3 mm. across; they are usually shorter than the fertile culms, but longer than the sterile culms. The leaf blades are light green, glabrous, and furrowed along their midveins; they are ascending to widely spreading and arching. The leaf sheaths are light green, longitudinally veined, and glabrous. Each fertile culm terminates in an inflorescence consisting of a terminal staminate spikelet, 2-3 pistillate spikelets, and their bracts. The narrow staminate spikelet is 1.0–2.5 cm. long on a short peduncle. The staminate scales of this spikelet are 3.5–5.0 mm. long, 1.5 mm. across, and lanceolate or elliptic in shape; they are dark purple during the blooming period, often with green midveins and membranous margins. The large anthers of the staminate florets are cream-colored and linear in shape; they become dull light brown with age. The sessile pistillate spikelets are much smaller in size than the staminate spikelet; they are adjacent to each other or slightly separated. Each pistillate spikelet has about 4-12 perigynia and their scales. The perigynia are 2.5–3.0 mm. long and 1.5 mm. across; they have ovoid-globoid bodies with short stout beaks and stipe-like bases that are also short and stout. Immature perigynia are light green and either glabrous or finely short-pubescent. The pistillate scales are about the same length as the perigynia; they are ovate in shape, dark purple, and membranous along their margins. Each pistillate floret has 3 styles that are slender and white. At the base of the lowest pistillate spikelet, there is a green to purple leafy bract that is as long or a little longer than the spikelet (up to 1 cm. in length). Other bracts of the inflorescence are smaller in size and often scale-like. The blooming period occurs from mid- to late spring, lasting about 1-2 weeks. The florets are cross-pollinated by the wind. The achenes are about 1.5–2.0 mm. long, globoid-obovoid in shape, and slightly 3-angled. The root system produces long stolons than run along the surface of the soil (underneath fallen leaves and other debris). Loose clonal colonies are often formed from these stolons.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Charlie Hohn, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Charlie Hohn
2. (c) Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carex_pensylvanica_kz1.jpg
3. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carex_pensylvanica
4. (c) bkmertz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
5. Adapted by bkmertz from a work by (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29448414

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Go Botany
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Maryland Biodiversity Project
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• VASCAN by Canadensys
• World Flora Online

iNat Map