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star sedge

Habit Plants 10–90(135) cm tall.
Leaves

usually 0.7–2.7(3.3) mm wide.

Inflorescences

spikes separated or sometimes crowded; distance between 2 lowest spikes usually longer than lowest spike.

Perigynia

(2.6)2.9–3.6(4) mm long, usually veinless on the ventral surface over the achene;

beak (35)38–60% of perigynium length;

stigmas 2.

Achenes

lenticular.

2n

=50, 52, 58.

Carex magellanica

Carex echinata ssp. echinata

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Bogs, swamps, seeps, streamsides, wet meadows, usually in acidic or serpentine soils, not coastal. 100–2300 m. BW, Casc, ECas, Sisk, WV. CA, ID, NV, WA; north to AK, east to Newfoundland, throughout most of US except Great Plains and southeastern states; HI, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Central America; Australia, Eurasia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea. Native.

Individuals with well-separated spikes are often confused with C. interior, which has proportionately shorter perigynium beaks; because C. interior perigynia taper more abruptly to the beak, they have “shoulders.” In southwestern Oregon, C. interior has beaks at the longer end of that range, and the distinction can be difficult. See C. echinata ssp. phyllomanica.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 200
Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting
Sibling taxa
C. abrupta, C. agastachys, C. amplifolia, C. angustata, C. aperta, C. aquatilis, C. arcta, C. arenaria, C. atherodes, C. athrostachya, C. atrosquama, C. aurea, C. barbarae, C. bebbii, C. bolanderi, C. brainerdii, C. brevior, C. breweri, C. buchananii, C. buxbaumii, C. californica, C. canescens, C. capillaris, C. capitata, C. chordorrhiza, C. comans, C. comosa, C. concinna, C. concinnoides, C. cordillerana, C. crawfordii, C. cusickii, C. davyi, C. deflexa, C. densa, C. diandra, C. disperma, C. distans, C. douglasii, C. duriuscula, C. echinata, C. exsiccata, C. feta, C. filifolia, C. fissuricola, C. fracta, C. geyeri, C. gynocrates, C. gynodynama, C. halliana, C. harfordii, C. hassei, C. haydeniana, C. hendersonii, C. heteroneura, C. hirsutella, C. hirta, C. hoodii, C. hystericina, C. idahoa, C. illota, C. infirminervia, C. inops, C. integra, C. interior, C. interrupta, C. jonesii, C. kelloggii, C. klamathensis, C. kobomugi, C. laeviculmis, C. lasiocarpa, C. leporina, C. leporinella, C. leptalea, C. leptopoda, C. limosa, C. livida, C. longii, C. luzulina, C. lyngbyei, C. macrocephala, C. macrochaeta, C. media, C. mendocinensis, C. mertensii, C. mesochorea, C. micropoda, C. microptera, C. multicaulis, C. nardina, C. nebrascensis, C. nervina, C. neurophora, C. nigricans, C. nudata, C. obnupta, C. pachycarpa, C. pachystachya, C. pansa, C. paysonis, C. pellita, C. pelocarpa, C. pendula, C. petasata, C. phaeocephala, C. pluriflora, C. praeceptorum, C. praegracilis, C. praticola, C. preslii, C. pumila, C. raynoldsii, C. retrorsa, C. rossii, C. saxatilis, C. scabriuscula, C. scirpoidea, C. scoparia, C. scopulorum, C. serpenticola, C. serratodens, C. sheldonii, C. simulata, C. spectabilis, C. stipata, C. straminiformis, C. subbracteata, C. subfusca, C. subnigricans, C. sychnocephala, C. tahoensis, C. tiogana, C. tribuloides, C. tumulicola, C. unilateralis, C. utriculata, C. vallicola, C. vernacula, C. vesicaria, C. viridula, C. vulpinoidea, C. whitneyi, C. zikae
C. echinata ssp. echinata, C. echinata ssp. phyllomanica
Synonyms Carex angustior, Carex muricata, Carex ormantha
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