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Photo is of parent taxon

thread-leaf sedge

Habit Plants cespitose, short-rhizomatous.
Culms

round to sharply trigonous, 8–35 cm.

brown at base.

Leaves

blades 7–25 cm, 0.3–0.7 mm wide near base.

basal sheaths fibrous;

sheath fronts membranous;

blades filiform or V-shaped in cross section when young, glabrous.

Inflorescences

a single spike;

bracts absent;

spike androgynous.

Spike

(10–)12–26(–30) × 3–7 mm, staminate portion 4–14 mm.

Perigynia

obovate, (2.8–)3–4.8 × 1.4–2 mm;

beak 0.2–0.8 mm.

erect or ascending, veinless, or with 2 prominent marginal veins, obovate, ovate, or elliptic, rounded trigonous in cross section, base ± tapering or rounded, apex rounded or truncate, to abrupt beak or not, puberulent distally;

beak 0.2–1 mm, orifice truncate.

Achenes

2.2–3(–3.3) × 1.3–1.9 mm.

trigonous, almost as large as bodies of perigynia;

style deciduous.

Longest

pistillate scales 2.9–4.5(–6.5) × 1.9–4 mm excluding awns, usually equaling or longer than perigynia.

Proximal

pistillate scales with apex obtuse or mucronate.

Stigmas

3.

Carex filifolia var. filifolia

Carex sect. Filifoliae

Phenology Fruiting Apr–Jun.
Habitat Dry to dryish areas, stable silt-loam or gravel, on slopes, headlands, eroded areas, swales
Elevation 100–3100 m (300–10200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; SK; YT
North America; Mexico
Discussion

Species 5 (3 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaf blades folded to channeled, not quill-shaped, 1.5–2 mm wide near base; proximal pistillate scale usually conspicuously long-awned.
C. oreocharis
1. Leaf blades involute-cylindric, quill-shaped, 0.2–0.8 mm wide near base; proximal pistillate scale obtuse to short-awned.
→ 2
2. Perigynium body glabrous or at most very sparsely short-hirsute near beak; style base not conspicuously exserted from beak, rachilla absent.
C. elynoides
2. Perigynium body short-pubescent, at least on distal 1/4; style base often conspicuously exserted from beak; rachilla present.
C. filifolia
Source FNA vol. 23, p. 568. FNA vol. 23. Author: Joy Mastrogiuseppe.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Carex > sect. Filifoliae > Carex filifolia Cyperaceae > Carex
Sibling taxa
C. filifolia var. erostrata
Subordinate taxa
C. elynoides, C. filifolia, C. oreocharis
Synonyms C. unranked Filifoliae
Name authority unknown (Tuckerman) Mackenzie: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 18: 177. (1935)
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