Carex stipata (Awl-fruited sedge)

Carex stipata Muhl. ex Willd.

Awl-fruited sedge, sawbeak sedge, prickly sedge

Awl-fruited sedge is native throughout North America.

Plants: Tufts up to 4′ (1.2 m) tall. Culms are hairless, three-angled, and stout but spongy-feeling, and winged.

Leaves: 2′ long ⨉ ⅛–¼″ wide (60 cm ⨉ 4–8 mm).

Flowers: Inflorescences are 1¾–6″ (5–15 cm) long, densely crowded with yellowish-green spikes. Perigynia are ⅛–3/16″ (4–5 mm) in length, with long, sharp, tapering beaks.

Fruits: Achenes are ovoid, flattish, and less than 1/16″ (2 mm) long.

Habitats: Marshes, meadows, fields, river and lake shores, swamps, and human-disturbed habitats.

Similar species.

Online References:

Illinois Wildflowers

Minnesota Wildflowers

Go Botany

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. 516

Jenkins, Jerry, Sedges of the Northern Forest: A Photographic Guide (The Northern Forest Atlas Guides), Comstock Publishing Associates, 2019, p. 72

5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (49 × 35 cm) ID is uncertain

6/10/2021 · Otter Brrok Preserve, Harpswell Heritage Land Trust, Harpswell, Maine · ≈ 3 × 5″ (8.4 × 12 cm)

6/4/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Ayer, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 4½″ (15 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain

6/10/2021 · Otter Brrok Preserve, Harpswell Heritage Land Trust, Harpswell, Maine · ≈ 5 × 3½″ (12 × 9.1 cm)

6/10/2021 · Otter Brrok Preserve, Harpswell Heritage Land Trust, Harpswell, Maine · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (11 × 16 cm)

5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 15 × 10″ (39 × 26 cm) ID is uncertain

5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 5 × 7″ (13 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
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	stipata	From the Latin stipatus, “compressed, surrounded”

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Range:

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Carex stipata description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.