Flora of North America species comparison

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Carex microglochin subsp. microglochin
Photo is of parent taxon

few-seed fen sedge
Rhizomes

0.2–4(–6) cm × 0.5–1 mm.
Culms

arising singly or 2–4 together, (2–)4–23(–36) cm, glabrous.
Leaves

the proximal blade-bearing;

foliage leaves 4–10 per culm;

ligules much wider than long;

blades 1–8(–14) cm × 0.5–0.8 mm.
Spike

with 4–8 staminate flowers and 3–10 pistillate flowers, 6–14 × 2–9 (immature fruit) or 4–11 (mature fruit) mm.
Perigynia

pale green to straw colored, lance-subulate, 3.4–4.7 × 0.5–0.7 mm;

beak scarcely differentiated;

rachilla bristlelike, exserted 0.5–2.8 mm beyond orifice of beak.
Achenes

2.1–2.4 × 0.5–0.7 mm;

style not exserted.
Pistillate

scales (except the proximal) 2.4–3 mm, wider than and 1/2 length of perigynia.
Staminate

scales appressed.
2n

= 50.

Carex microglochin subsp. microglochin
Phenology Fruiting summer (mid Jun–late Aug).
Habitat Moist, calcareous, often peaty ground in open barrens, tundra (often very wet or flooded), fens, seeps over shallow bedrock, and boggy subalpine meadows, also sandy or gravelly river flats and clay or silt at lakeshores and seasides
Elevation 0–3700 m (0–12100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CO; UT; WY; AB; BC; MB; NL; NT; NU; ON; QC; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
Discussion

Carex microglochin subsp. microglochin is usually rare to occasional in subarctic North America and scattered in the cordilleran region. It can be locally abundant (e.g., Brooks Range, Alaska) or even dominant (e.g., western Newfoundland) despite its very spotty geographic range. It was reported from Montana by W. E. Booth (1950) and F. J. Hermann (1970); no verifying specimens have been found. Many authors, including cyperologists (e.g., E. R. Guaglianone 1996), have agreed that the populations found in Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands constitute a vicariant here treated as C. microglochin subsp. fuegina Kükenthal [C. oligantha W. Boott, not Steudel; C. microglochin var. oligantha Kükenthal], differing from subsp. microglochin primarily in having fewer flowers per spike and slightly longer perigynia with longer stipes. H. Roivainen (1954) asserted that both taxa (as C. microglochin and C. oligantha) occur in Tierra del Fuego.

Carex microglochin subsp. microglochin is an inconspicuous but interesting little plant, distinctive in having a well-developed rachilla very similar in appearance to the exserted style of C. pauciflora. The long-pointed perigynia, which mature quickly and detach easily, are probably dispersed by animals (M. L. Fernald 1926; D. B. O. Savile 1972).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 23, p. 531.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Carex > sect. Leucoglochin > Carex microglochin
Synonyms C. pauciflora var. microglochin
Name authority unknown
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Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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