Carex castanea

Wahlenberg

Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. 24: 155. 1803.

Common names: Chestnut sedge carex châtain
IllustratedEndemic
Synonyms: Carex flexilis Rudge
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 23. Treatment on page 470. Mentioned on page 461, 463, 466, 468, 471, 505.

Plants with short rhizomes, loosely cespitose. Culms dark maroon at base; flowering-stems 40–90 cm, much longer than leaves at maturity, 0.5–1 mm thick, sparingly pilose. Leaves: basal sheaths maroon, bladeless, pilose; others grading from maroon to green on back, pale to chestnut brown-hyaline and usually red dotted on front, ciliate at apex; blades flat, 2.5–9 mm wide, pilose on both surfaces, sparsely so adaxially, margins smooth or ciliate. Inflorescences: peduncles of lateral spikes capillary, 10–20 mm, glabrous or pubescent; peduncle of terminal spike erect, 3–5 mm; proximal bracts hyaline, reduced to green awn or less often leaflike and 0.3–1.5 mm wide; sheaths usually less than 3 mm (to 10 mm). Lateral spikes 2–4, 1 per node, mostly near apex but not crowded, drooping at maturity, pistillate with 10–40 perigynia attached 1 mm apart, narrowly cylindric, 8–25 × 4–5 mm. Terminal spike staminate, sessile or pedunculate, 10–30 × 1.4–3 (4) mm. Pistillate scales hyaline suffused with chestnut with broad green midrib, ovate, shorter to nearly as long as mature perigynia, apex acute to cuspidate, awns less than 1 mm, often ciliate distally. Perigynia light green, usually red dotted, 2-ribbed and 5–7-veined, at least proximally and abaxially, loosely enveloping achene, ellipsoid, 2.5–5 × 1.3–2.5 mm, membranous, base acute, apex tapering to beak, glabrous; beak bidentate to 1.5 mm, teeth 0.5 mm, ciliate between apical teeth. Achenes substipitate, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 mm. 2n = 44, 64.


Phenology: Fruiting late spring–mid summer.
Habitat: Cedar swamps, rich mesic deciduous or mixed conifer-hardwood forests, mixed coniferous forests and margins, mesic meadows, often associated with calcareous soils

Distribution

V23 862-distribution-map.jpg

Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., Que., Conn., Maine, Mich., Minn., N.H., N.Y., Tenn., Vt., Wis.

Discussion

Hybrids between Carex castanea and C. arcata (= C. ×knieskernii) occur quite frequently across the overlapping ranges of the parental species, in roadside ditches near cedar swamps and disturbed areas in deciduous forests, where the two parental species can often be found in close proximity. Carex castanea also hybridizes rarely with C. debilis var. rudgei and probably also with C. gracillima, although the latter hybrid has not been confirmed. The length of the proximal inflorescence bract and its sheath are strongly dependent on location on the culm: If the proximal spike is positioned low on the culm, the blade is leaflike with an obvious but short sheath; if positioned more distally, the blade is reduced to an auriculate awn without a sheath. The chromosome number (2n = 64) reported by Á. Löve & D. Löve (1981b) is probably erroneous.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"shortened" is not a number."thick" is not a number.

... more about "Carex castanea"
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
trigonous +
1mm;1.5mm +
not crowded +
tapering;acute to cuspidate +
Marcia J. Waterway +
Wahlenberg +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
0.3mm +  and 1.5mm +
Hymenochlaenae +
bidentate +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
m--shaped +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.9 cm9 mm <br />0.009 m <br />) +
glumaceous +  and foliaceous +
2-ranked +  and arranged +
ascending +  and appressed +
scale-like +  and leaflike +
parallel +  and divergent +
terete +, rolled +  and plicate +
Chestnut sedge +  and carex châtain +
dark maroon +
round +  and trigonous +
Man. +, N.B. +, Nfld. and Labr. +, N.S. +, Ont. +, Que. +, Conn. +, Maine +, Mich. +, Minn. +, N.H. +, N.Y. +, Tenn. +, Vt. +  and Wis. +
open +, pistillate +  and staminate +
hypogynous +  and subtending +
40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br /> (90 cm900 mm <br />0.9 m <br />) +
biconvex +  and trigonous +
Cedar swamps, rich mesic deciduous or mixed conifer-hardwood forests, mixed coniferous forests and margins, mesic meadows, often associated with calcareous soils +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (?) +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
multi-ranked +, 2-ranked +, 3-ranked +  and alternate +
basal +  and cauline +
ciliate +  and smooth +
entire +  and bidentate +
red dotted +, pale +  and chestnut brown-hyaline +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
capillary +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
with (1-)3-6(-30) bristles and/or scales +
5-7-veined +  and pistillate +
red dotted +  and light green +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
mature +  and maturity +
ascending +  and erect +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br /> (0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br />) +
Fruiting late spring–mid summer. +
2-3(-4)-carpellate +
, +, suffused with maroon or suffused with chestnut-brown +, white +  and hyaline +
3 (?) +  and 1 (?) +
Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. +
adventitious +
chestnut +  and hyaline suffused +
basal +  and proximal +
cylindric +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
Illustrated +  and Endemic +
1 +  and 3 +
septate +, hollow +  and solid +
compressed +, terete +  and trigonous +
papillate +
deciduous +
2-3(-4)-fid +
Carex flexilis +
Carex castanea +
Carex sect. Hymenochlaenae +
species +
pedunculate +, sessile +  and staminate +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (?) +
androgynous +  and gynecandrous +
0.14 cm1.4 mm <br />0.0014 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (?) +
plant +  and cespitose +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
not septate-nodulose +