James’s sedge, grass sedge

Carex steudelii Kunth

Culms 4–37 cm; cataphylls with concave cells. Leaves: basal sheaths golden brown to dark brown; blades green, eceeding culms, 0.8–4.8 mm wide, herbaceous, margins green, scabrous. Lateral spikes 1–5, basal, on spreading to nodding peduncles. Terminal spikes with staminate portion 3–13 flowered, (4.2–)5.8 14.5 × 0.4 0.8 mm; pistillate portion 1 4-flowered. Pistillate scales green, margins connate, hyaline, white, occasionally tinged reddish brown; proximal scales with margins 1.4–3 mm, apex long-acuminate; distal scales with margins 0.4–0.8 mm wide, apex acuminate, awnless. Staminate scales ovate, 1.1–1.8(–2.1) × 1.2–1.5 mm, 0.12–0.25(–0.75) length of staminate portion of terminal spike, margins hyaline, white, often with reddish brown subapical band, apex truncate or broadly obtuse. Anthers 0.6–1.6 mm. Perigynia green to bronze, globose to ellipsoid, 4.4–7.2 × 1.9–2.4 mm, tightly enveloping achenes, apex abruptly tapering; beak 1.6–3.8 mm, scabrous. Stigmas filiform, flexuous, strongly papillose. Achenes dark brown, globose to ellipsoid, 2–2.6 × 1.7–2.4 mm. 2n = 66, 70.

Fruiting spring–summer (early May–mid Jul). Mesic, rich ravines, slopes, and flood plains in hardwood forests, on lime-rich substrates; 100–400 m; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Md., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va., Wis.