Sedge Buster Lesson 17 - Carex amphibola

As was stated in the previous lesson, and will be repeated here, there are at least two important sedges of deciduous woodlands near water in these parts. One of these is easy to identify when it has peryginia because the perygynia are bent, C. Blanda.
The other one is more problematic. Rayetta, Ray and I have now thoroughly gone over the 13 sheets we have at the CB that I labeled as C. amphibola once upon a time. One of em is probably Carex flaccosperma so we kicked that one out of the group leaving 12. Of these 12, eight appear to be Carex amphibola var. turgida and four appear to be Carex amphibola var. globulosa. Or if you prefer, Carex grisea and Carex bulbostylis. But its not that simple ecologically spelling, because we have Travis County specimens of both of them from the same park and the same habitat. Yikes to that.

All the globulosas except one are from Travis County. The fourth globulosa is from Denton County. The turgidas are from Travis County, Delta County, Polk County, Waller County and a couple from eastern Oklahoma.

One way to tell them apart maybe is by overall color. The turgidas have lotsa red on the basal sheaths and also on the mature peryginia and the male scales. The globulosas don't have any red, instead, being generally green, with whitish basal sheaths and no red in the infloresence.

So here's couple of achene pictures. Examine the styles, sil vous plait. First a globulosa then a turgida.

Dr. McN. You may have (have had) the turgida, since by our reckoning the leaves on the turgidas are wider than the globulosa leaves and more generally resembling the leaves of C. blanda.