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fox sedge

naked sedge, torrent sedge

Habit Plants cespitose, 30–100 cm tall. Plants densely cespitose, with blackish bases that usually cannot be wrenched from their rocky strongholds; culms 35–70 cm tall; plant bases blackish.
Leaves

sheath fronts cross-corrugated, white-hyaline with brown spots;

blades approximately 5 mm wide, generally longer than the flowering culms.

sheath fronts coppery with reddish brown dots, conspicuously ladder-fibrillose;

blades 2–4 mm wide, green or somewhat glaucous; plant bases reddish brown or blackish.

Inflorescences

elongate; (3)7–10 cm × 15 mm; somewhat interrupted;

bracts hair-like, usually conspicuous;

spikes many; short, androgynous; lowest node usually with a short branch with at least 1 side spike; thus the lowest node often seeming to produce 2 spikes.

lowest bract shorter than the inflorescence;

lateral 2–4 spikes female, 2–4.5 cm × (4)5–6 mm; erect; terminal 1–2 spikes male.

Perigynia

elliptic to ovate, 2–3.2 × 1.3– 1.8 mm; dull grayish brown, with 0–3 dorsal veins; veinless ventrally;

base obtuse or rounded, depending on the amount of pithy tissue within;

stigmas 2.

elliptical to ovate to obovate, 2.2–4 × 1.2–1.8 mm, pale brown with red spots and often a big black blotch near the tip, with 3–9 veins on each face;

beak 0.1–0.3 mm;

stigmas 2.

Achenes

lenticular.

lenticular; about half as long as the perigynia.

Female scales

brown; short-awned.

much shorter than the perigynia; dark reddish brown to black; awnless.

2n

=52, 54.

=70, 72.

Carex vulpinoidea

Carex nudata

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

Moist to wet meadows, marshes and ditches. 0–1300 m. BW, Casc, Col, ECas, Owy, Sisk, WV. CA, ID, WA; throughout most of Canada and US, south to Mexico; Eurasia, New Zealand. Native.

Carex vulpinoidea is a cespitose sedge with cross-corrugated leaf sheaths and long, interrupted inflorescences with conspicuous though almost hair-thin bracts. Carex densa, its equivalent west of the Cascades, has a shorter, uninterrupted inflorescence with less conspicuous bracts and yellower perigynia that average larger, with more dorsal and ventral veins. Its leaves are shorter than the flowering culms. Carex vulpinoidea is native in eastern Oregon and along the Columbia, but southwestern Oregon records are recent introductions.

Cracks in rocks or among cobbles within the scour zones of large, fast-moving rivers, including small rocky islands; occasionally along irrigation canals. 0–1300 m. BW, Casc, Col, CR, ECas, Est, Lava, Sisk, WV. CA, WA. Native.

Carex nudata forms dense tussocks with narrow, gracefully drooping leaves among rocks in fast-flowing rivers. It can be identified from a passing car. Rhizomatous C. interrupta may grow adjacent to C. nudata tussocks on stream banks in sandy or gravelly soils; its perigynia are smaller, and its lowest spike bases have perigynia widely spaced.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 233
Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting
Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 217
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. whitneyi, C. zikae
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. 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
Synonyms Carex suborbiculata
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