Carex hirtifolia

Culms 25-60 cm, scabrous distally, pilose. Leaf blades to 4-8 mm wide. Spikes: lateral spikes in distal 1/2 of stem, 5-17(-22) × 4-6 mm; terminal spikes 8-20 × 1.8-3 mm. Pistillate scales 3-veined, obovate-circular, 3-5 × 1.2-2.5 mm, apex acuminate, proximal scale almost as long as perigynia, with awn 0.5-2 mm. Perigynia 3.5-5 × 1.5-1.8 mm. Achenes sessile, 2.5-2.8 × 1.2-1.5 mm. 2n = 50.

Fruiting late spring-early summer. Thickets, lowland forests, forested slopes; 0-1000 m; N.B., N.S., Ont., Que.; Conn., Del., D.C., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Loosely tufted, 3-6 dm; lvs soft and flaccid, softly hairy, 3-7 mm wide, the 2 mid-lateral veins conspicuous on the upper side; spikes 2-4, approximate or the lower somewhat separate; lowest bract sheathless, with blade surpassing the spike; upper bracts smaller; terminal spike staminate, slender, 1-2 cm; lateral spikes pistillate, sessile or short-peduncled, 8-15 mm; pistillate scales obovate, with broad hyaline margins and green midvein excurrent into a short awn nearly or quite equaling the perigynium; perigynia trigonous, hairy, nerveless, the obovoid body 2.6-3.5 mm, abruptly rounded into a slender erect beak 0.8-1.3 mm; achene trigonous, filling the perigynium. Woods; N.B. and Que. to Minn., s. to Md., W.Va., Ky., Mo., and e. Kans.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

Very common throughout the state in woodland habitats of all types, showing a slight preference for beech woods.

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 5

Wetland Indicator Status: n/a