Flora of North America species comparison

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Carex sect. Pictae
Habit Plants loosely cespitose, short- and stout-rhizomatous.
Culms

red-purple or red-brown at base.
Leaves

basal sheaths fibrous;

sheath fronts membranous;

blades V-shaped in cross section when young, widest blades 4 mm or wider, distal leaves sometimes bladeless, glabrous.
Inflorescences

solitary or racemose, with 3–8 spikes;

proximal nonbasal bracts bladeless or blade not more than 2 mm, sheathing;

solitary inflorescences unisexual, bractless spikes;

racemose inflorescences with lateral spikes pistillate or androgynous, some basal, pedunculate, prophyllate;

terminal spike staminate or androgynous.
Perigynia

ascending, veined, stipitate, oblong-obovate, trigonous in cross section, 4–5 mm, base tapering, apex tapering, beakless or beaked, pubescent;

beak orifice emarginate.
Achenes

trigonous, almost as large as bodies of perigynia;

style deciduous.
Proximal

pistillate scales with apex obtuse to awned.
Stigmas

3.

Carex sect. Pictae
Distribution
e North America
Discussion

Species 2 (2 in flora).

Carex sect. Pictae appears to be closely related to sections Digitatae, Scirpinae, and Acrocystis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Staminate and pistillate flowers on same plant; spikes 3–8, terminal spike mainly staminate, usually with pistillate flowers at base; lateral spikes mainly pistillate; proximal leaf blades 4–8 mm wide, glaucous abaxially.
C. baltzellii
1. Staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants; spike 1, unisexual; proximal leaf blades 2–4.5 mm wide, green adaxially.
C. picta
Source FNA vol. 23. Author: Peter W. Ball.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Carex
Subordinate taxa
C. baltzellii, C. picta
Name authority Kükenthal: in H. G. A. Engler, Pflanzenr. 20[IV,38]: 82. (1909)
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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