Flora of North America species comparison

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Carex sect. Circinatae
Habit Plants cespitose or not, short- or long-rhizomatous.
Culms

pale brown at base.
Leaves

basal sheaths not or scarcely fibrous;

sheath fronts membranous;

blades threadlike or V-shaped in cross section, glabrous.
Inflorescence

1 spike;

bracts absent;

spike androgynous or pistillate, lax.
Perigynia

not more than 15, erect, weakly veined, linear-lanceolate, obscurely trigonous, 3–6 mm, 3–4 times as long as wide, base tapering, margins rounded, apex tapering to beak, glabrous;

beak less than 2 mm, orifice obliquely cleft.
Achenes

usually trigonous, 1.5–2.5 mm, smaller than bodies of perigynia;

style deciduous.
Proximal

pistillate scales persistent, exceeding perigynia, apex cuspidate or awned.
Stigmas

(2–)3.

Carex sect. Circinatae
Distribution
North America; amphi-Pacific
Discussion

Species 4 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants cespitose, short-rhizomatous; leaves involute; distal margins of perigynia finely serrulate.
C. circinata
1. Plants not cespitose, long-rhizomatous; leaves flat; distal margins of perigynia smooth.
C. anthoxanthea
Source FNA vol. 23. Author: David F. Murray.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Carex
Subordinate taxa
C. anthoxanthea, C. circinata
Name authority Meinshausen: Trudy Imp. S.-Petersburgsk. Bot. Sada 18(3): 280. (1901)
Web links 
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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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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