Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (10/20/20):
Carex socialis
FAMILY
Cyperaceae
NEW! Click to go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
C. socialis differs from its closest relative, C. radiata (the default "star sedge" of floodplains), by its elongate and tough, horizontal, knotty rhizomes, thus forming spreading colonies. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Carex socialis
FAMILY
Cyperaceae
COMMON NAME:
Low Woodland Sedge
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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Bruce A. Sorrie bas_c_socialis3ehab
May Bladen County NC
Roadside
Culms arise scattered along creeping rhizomes [not in tight clumps], per Weakley's Flora (2020).
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Bruce A. Sorrie bas_c_socialis9e
May Bladen County NC
Perigynia 4-5× long as wide, per Weakley's Flora (2020).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (10/20/20):
Carex socialis
FAMILY
Cyperaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Carex socialis
FAMILY
Cyperaceae
4381
Grass, Sedge, or Rush
Perennial
Monoecious
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Rare (an endemic)
Habitat: blackwater and brownwater swamp forests and bottomlands, forested seepage areas, per Weakley's Flora
NEW! Click here to see a map from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US showing range and abundance.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal? Alternate, 3-ranked?
FLOWER:
Spring
Unisexual
Perianth absent
3 stamens
Superior ovary
Inflorescences: spikes (consistently androgynous, occ. some laterals pistillate)
FRUIT:
Nutlet
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!