Photo © Robert Moseley CLICK PHOTO FOR A LARGER IMAGE

Carex livida (Wahlenb.) Willd.

Pale Sedge

Cyperaceae (Sedge family)

General Description: Grass-like perennial growing in small clumps with flowering stems up to 20 cm tall arising from long-slender rhizomes. Leaves are deeply channeled, 1-4 mm wide, clustered on the lower third of the stem, and have a glaucous blue-green color. The inflorescence consists of 2-3, or sometimes 4, loosely clustered spikes. The narrow terminal spike is usually wholly staminate. The lateral spikes are pistillate and nearly sessile. Flowers have 3 stigmas, and the oval-shaped scales subtending the perigynia have a green midvein stripe, brown marginal stripes, and membranous edges. The perigynia are 2-4 mm long, pale green, elliptic or ovate in outline, and have a minutely bumpy surface.

Illustration.

Field Identification Tips: The pale blue-green, stiff, channeled, more or less falcate-shape leaves are quite distinctive in the field.

Phenology: Fruit matures in late June-August.

Similar Species: Carex aquatilis has long-stalked lateral spikes and flowers with two stigmas. Carex limosa is rhizomatous and has three stigmas, but has drooping lateral spikes on slender stalks. Carex buxbaumii has 3 stigmas and bluish-green foliage, but differs in having pistillate flowers at the tip of the upper spike and long-awned scales.

Photo © Robert Moseley CLICK PHOTO FOR A LARGER IMAGE

Habitat: Bogs and fens, swampy woods, or sometimes on mineral substrates adjacent to slow moving streams; from low to moderately high elevations.

Global Distribution: Circumboreal; in the western part of North America it reaches from southern Alaska south to northwestern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.

Idaho Distribution: Known from four widely separated areas in Idaho. It occurs in the Panhandle region; the Sawtooth Valley in the central mountains; the upper Lemhi River in east-central Idaho; and the Greater Yellowstone region near the state's eastern border.

References:

Caicco, S. L. 1987. Field investigations of selected sensitive plant species on the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. Unpublished report prepared for the Panhandle National Forests by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Conservation Data Center, Boise. 44 pp. plus appendices.

Caicco, S. L. 1988. Studies in the genus Carex on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. Unpublished report prepared for the Panhandle National Forests by the Conservation Data Center, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Boise. 26 pp. plus appendices.

Hurd, E. G., N. L. Shaw, J. Mastrogiuseppe, L. C. Smithman, and S. Goodrich. 1998. Field guide to intermountain sedges. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-10, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Ogden, UT. 282 pp.

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

Moseley, R. K., R. J. Bursik, F. W. Rabe, and L. D. Cazier. 1994. Peatlands of the Sawtooth Valley, Custer and Blaine Counties, Idaho. Cooperative Cost Share Project, Sawtooth National Forest, The Nature Conservancy, and Idaho Conservation Data Center, Idaho Department of Fish and Game. 64 pp. plus appendices.

Spackman, S., B. Jennings, J. Coles, C. Dawson, M. Minton, A. Kratz, and C. Spurrier. 1997. Colorado Rare Plant Field Guide. Prepared for the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program.