Rhizomes coarse, 1.9-3.5 mm thick, typically with long, unbranched segments from which shoots arise singly every few nodes. Culms sharply trigonous, (15-)25-65(-80) cm, scabrous-angled distally. Leaves: basal sheaths brown; sheaths with hyaline inner band, apex not prolonged, glabrous; ligules 0.5-1.5 mm; blades 1.1-3 mm wide. Inflorescences elongate, 1-3.5 cm; spikes 3-10(-15), androgynous, ovoid. Pistillate scales reddish brown, with narrow hyaline margins, ovate, acute to acuminate-awned, dull. Anthers 1.9-3.1 mm, apiculus bristly hairy (30X). Perigynia reddish brown, faintly to strongly veined on both sides, usually stipitate, broadly ovate, thickly plano-convex, 3-4.3 × 1.8-2.4 mm, shiny; beak 0.6-0.9 mm, 1/5-1/4 length of body, oblique to bidentulate. 2n = 58, 60.

Fruiting May-Jun. Wet shores and marshy areas in freshwater habitats near the coast; 0-10 m; introduced; Md., N.C., Va.; Eurasia; New Zealand.

Carex divisa was first recorded in North America in 1933 (S. F. Blake 1934); it was also introduced into New Zealand.

Very much like no. 12 [Carex stenophylla Wahlenb.]; spikes mostly 3-8(-12), all or mostly androgynous; perigynium ovate or broadly ovate, evidently nerved dorsally, the body 3-5 times as long as the short beak. Native of Europe, locally intr. in brackish marshes along the coast in Md. and N.C.

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

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