Photo © Robert Moseley CLICK PHOTO FOR A LARGER IMAGE

Carex comosa Boott

Bristly Sedge

Cyperaceae (Sedge family)

General Description: A coarse, perennial sedge with clustered stems, 50-100 cm tall arising from a short rhizome. The long, glabrous leaves are flat and 4-11 mm wide. The elongated lowest bract surpasses and is sometimes several times as long as the inflorescence. Staminate flowers are borne in a narrow spike above the 3-5, clustered, pistillate spikes that are each 2-7 cm long and about 1.5 cm thick, and nodding on slender peduncles. The glabrous, spreading, pale green, lance-shaped perigynia are 5-8 mm long, and have a long beak ending in two slender, divergent teeth about 2 mm long. The papery scales subtending the perigynia are only 1-2 mm long and have a pointed awn-tip up to 6 mm long. Pistillate flowers have three stigmas and the achenes are 3-sided with a persistent, usually straight, bony style.

Illustration.

Field Identification Tips: Distinguished from all other sedges in northern Idaho by the large, drooping spikes with a "bottle brush" appearance, the long divergent teeth of the perigynia, and scales terminated by a prominent awn.

Phenology: Fruits mature in July. Plant can usually be identified through August.

Similar Species: Carex hystricina and C. utriculata are two related, coarse, clumpy-looking sedges. The pistillate spikes of C. hystricina are nodding, but the teeth on the perigynium beak are smaller (less than 1 mm long) and not divergent. The spikes of C. utriculata are usually more erect or only slightly nodding. There are also differences in features of the perigynia and scales.

Photo © Robert Moseley CLICK PHOTO FOR A LARGER IMAGE

Habitat: Shorelines, marshes, bogs, fens, and forested wetlands.

Global Distribution: In eastern North America from Quebec to South Dakota, south to Florida and Louisiana. It is disjunct in the Pacific states from southern British Columbia south to California, and in northern Idaho and northwestern Montana.

Idaho Distribution: The Panhandle region in Boundary and Bonner counties.

References:

Montana Natural Heritage Program. Montana rare plant field guide. Available at: http://nhp.nris.state.mt.us.

Moseley, R. K. 1989. Field investigations of 16 rare plant taxa occurring in wetlands on the Bonners Ferry Ranger District, Idaho Panhandle National Forest. Unpublished report prepared for the Panhandle National Forests by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Conservation Data Center, Boise. 75 pp. plus appendices.

Straley, G. B., R. L. Taylor, and G. W. Douglas. 1985. The rare vascular plants of British Columbia. Syllogeus No. 59. National Museum of Natural Sciences, National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. 165 pp.