Carex crinita (Drooping sedge)

Carex crinita Lam.

Drooping sedge, long-haired sedge, fringed sedge

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Liliopsida	Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family
Subclass	Commelinidae	Dayflowers and spiderworts, and several others
Order	Cyperales	Flowering plants including grasses
Family	Cyperaceae	Sedge family
Genus	Carex	The “true” sedges
Species	crinita	“Long-haired”

About plant names...

These sedges are native to North America. They have an affinity for wet, freshwater soils.

Plants: Drooping sedges are up to 4½' (1.4 m) high, though I rarely see them that large, with stems that are triangular in cross-section. They usually appear in tufts.

Flowers/seeds: Each stem supports 3-5 narrow, cylindrical drooping carpellate seed spikes up to 4½" (11 cm) in length and ¼" (7 mm) in diameter. Tiny, white, filament-like flowers are visible on the carpellate spikes in Photo 5. The precise shape of the perigynia and pistillate scales on the carpellate spikes are an identifying feature. Each stem also contains up to 3 staminate spikes. Although past their prime, you can make out the male pollen-bearing structures on the staminate spikes in Photo 7.

Leaves: Leaves are ribbed, grass-like, M- or U-shaped in cross section, up to ⅜" (1 cm) wide.

Carex crinita is easily confused with, and often found near, C. gynandra. “Easily confused” is an understatement: distinguishing these species requires a hand lens or scanner and a penchant for obscure botanical terminology. Scholarly papers have been written to provide evidence that they really are different.

1 · 9/20/2009 · Wild Gardens of Acadia, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
≈ 14 × 9" (35 × 23 cm)

2 · 6/2/2010 · J. Harry Rich State Forest, Groton, Massachusetts
≈ 9 × 12" (23 × 31 cm)

3 · 9/20/2009 · Wild Gardens of Acadia, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
≈ 11 × 7" (27 × 18 cm)

	You are here Carex crinita	*Carex gynandra*
Common Name	drooping sedge	nodding sedge
Plant	Up to 4½' (1.4 m) tall.	Up to 4½' (1.4 m) tall.
Flowers	Drooping narrow cylindrical heads up to 4½" (11 cm) long and ¼" (7 mm) in diameter. Carpellate scales are pale, truncate to notched at apex, with rough-textured awns. 1-3 staminate spikes per stem.	2-5 carpellate narrow, cylindrical spikes per stem. Each spike is ⅞-4" (2.4-10 cm) long, ⅛-¼" (3-9 mm) in diameter. Scales on the carpels are pale- to copper brown. There are 1-3 staminate spikes per stem.
Leaves	M or U-shaped in cross-section, ⅛-⅜" (4-10 mm) wide.	⅛-⅜" (4-10 mm) wide, U-shaped.
Stem	Triangular stem cross-section. *Basal leaf sheaths are smooth.*	Rough-textured, with a triangular cross-section. *Basal leaf sheaths are rough.*
Fruit	Perigynia are spreading, slightly inflated obovoid *(widest above the middle and truncate)*, ¹/₁₆-⅛" (2-4 mm) long.	Perigynia are *oval-shaped, tapering to a small beak.*
Range/ Zones
Habitats	Bottomland prairies, moist upland prairies, margins of bodies of water, spring branches, fens.	Marshes, wet forests, swamps, seeps, and roadside ditches. Perhaps a little more weedy and abundant in acidic soils than C. crinita.
Type	Wild	Wild

Representative perigynia, achenes, and scales. Carex crinita (left): pistillate scale (a), perigynium (b), achene (g); C. gynandra (right): pistillate scale (c), perigynium (d), achenes (e, g). Standley, Lisa A., “A Clarification of the Status of Carex crinita and C. gynandra,” Rhodora, Journal of the New England Botanical Club, 1983, Vol. 85, No. 841.

Online References:

Carex crinita on Missouriplants.com

Carex crinita at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Carex crinita on the USDA Plants Database

Carex crinita at Illinois Wildflowers

Carex crinita at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Carex crinita at the U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Carex crinita on

Carex crinita on eFloras

References:

Arsenault, Matt; Mittelhauser, Glen H.; Cameron, Don; Dibble, Alison C.; Haines, Arthur; Rooney, Sally C.; and Weber, Jill E., Sedges of Maine: A Field Guide to Cyperaceae, University of Maine Press, 2013, p. 374

Knobel, Edward, Field Guide to the Grasses, Sedges and Rushes of the United States, Dover Publications Inc., 1980, p. 69