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Support the Flora of the Southeastern US

2024 has been a banner year for making the best flora we can imagine. We've created:
With financial support from people like you, we are aiming even higher in 2025. Together we can accomplish all this: Vote on our 2025 priorities
  • Add Global Conservation Ranks (GRanks) vote
  • Professional graphic keys (polyclaves) to individual families/genera vote
  • 2 new FloraQuest apps: Florida & Mid-South vote
  • Image overlays highlighting diagnostic characters with arrows vote
  • iNaturalist integration in FloraQuest vote
Write-in vote: vote
We've set a goal of recruiting 200 ongoing supporters to donate $15 or more each month in 2025. Please help us reach this goal and make next year's flora even better:
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Keyed in multiple places:

Click the number at the start of a key lead to highlight both that lead and its corresponding lead. Click again to show only the two highlighted leads. Click a third time to return to the full key with the selected leads still highlighted.

Key to Carex, Key C: Subkey in Carex

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  2 Lateral spikes usually pedunculate; lowermost inflorescence bracts sometimes with sheath; peduncles with prophyll at base.
    3 Terminal spike gynecandrous, pistillate flowers as many as or more numerous than staminate; lateral spikes short, not much longer than wide; fresh perigynia white-pulverulent
    3 Terminal spike usually staminate or, sometimes, gynecandrous, staminate flowers then more numerous than pistillate; lateral spikes oblong, distinctly longer than wide; fresh perigynia green or slightly glaucous.
  2 Lateral spikes sessile; bracts sheathless; peduncles without (or rarely with) a prophyll
          6 Perigynia papillose (visible at 20× magnification).
                       12 Margins of perigynia flat, at least in the upper ½, flat portion (measured at the tip of the achene and base of beak) > (0.1-) 0.2 mm wider
                          13 Achenes rounded at apex (style dehiscing at the surface of the achene); style conspicuously enlarged at the base
                       12 Margins of perigynia rounded, or with flat portion < 0.1 mm wide.
                            14 Margins of perigynia sharply edged or narrowly winged; achenes distinctly smaller than the perigynium bodies.
                              15 Inflorescences in fruit 1.5-2 (or more)× as long as wide.
                 9 Sheath fronts of lower cauline leaves transversely rugose.
                   10 Perigynia mostly < 2× as long as wide, widest near middle.
                     11 Inflorescence usually branched, at least at the base, usually with > 15 spikes; pistillate scales usually yellow or brown, sometimes with hyaline margins, 3-veined
                 9 Sheath fronts of lower cauline leaves smooth (or very weakly and indistinctly transversely rugose).
                                    18 Fronts of leaf sheaths not dotted red, brown, or yellow.
                                             22 Upper leaves of culms with front of sheaths with at least a narrow hyaline or whitish-hyaline band extending at least ½ the length of the sheath.
                                               23 Perigynia without a flat margin, or with a flat margin < 0.1 mm wide; plants short-rhizomatous or inconspicuously rhizomatous, cespitose or not, sometimes forming large colonies.

Key to Carex, Key D: Subkey in Carex

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1 Pistillate spikes all or in part borne on the elongate, aboveground stem.
  2 Bracts of the lowermost non-basal spike with well-developed sheath > 4 mm long.
    3 Beak of perigynium entire, notched, or with indistinct teeth < 0.6 mm long.
      4 Bracts of the lowermost non-basal spike bladeless, or with a blade < 2 mm long.
      4 Bracts of the lowermost non-basal spike with blade > 3 mm long (and often much longer).
          6 Achene tip with at most a short apiculus.
             7 Leaves usually glabrous, to scabrous on the veins.
               8 Bases of plants distinctly red or purple.
  2 Bracts of the lowermost non-basal spike sheathless or with sheath < 4 mm long.
                                16 Leaf sheaths (and usually the blades as well) pubescent.
                                    18 Perigynia > 3.5 mm long, the tip tapering or abruptly beaked.
                                       19 Longer peduncles of pistillate spikes 0-1 cm long; perigynia < 3× as long as wide, abruptly contracted to a short stipe at the base.
                                             22 Leaf blades glabrous on the upper surface, often with rough margins or tip; beak of perigynium straight.
                                               23 Fronts of leaf sheaths not ladder-fibrillose, sometimes breaking into longitudinal fibers; leaves and sheaths not septate-nodulose.
                                                      26 Leaf blades, at least toward the tip, M-shaped in cross-section when young, the upper surface usually with 2 marginal veins more prominent than the midvein; staminate spikes 1-4
                                                          28 Plants with most pistillate spikes on obvious elongated stems; culms shorter than or longer than the leaves.

Key to Carex, Key E: Subkey in Carex

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1 Apex of perigynium beak with 2 teeth at least (0.4-) 0.5 mm long.
  2 Perigynia with 5+ distinct veins; at least proximal leaves septate-nodulose, rarely not.
    3 Perigynia with serrulate wing on margins; spikes usually 20+, sessile, pistillate or androgynous and similar in appearance, forming a dense, ovoid or oblong head, rarely with proximal spike separated
    3 Perigynia without wing on margins; spikes not more than 10, usually at least proximal shortly pedunculate, sometimes subsessile, distal and proximal spikes usually dissimilar in appearance, usually not crowded into a dense head.
      4 Pistillate scales obtuse to acuminate, awnless or at most with a rough apiculus.
        5 Staminate spikes usually 1-3+; perigynia 6-15 (-22)-veined, each 4-10 (-12.5) mm.
      4 Pistillate scales, at least some, with a scabrous awn.
                   10 Upper pistillate scales acute to short-awned, awn < ½ as long as the body.
                          13 Perigynium veined to tip of body and often into beak; widest leaves mostly > 4 mm wide.
1 Apex of perigynium beak entire, emarginate, or with 2 teeth < 0.5 mm long.
                                       19 Roots brown or black, without yellow-brown felty covering, rarely with white felty covering.
                                                      26 Adaxial side of leaves with 2 marginal veins more prominent than midvein; young leaves M-shaped in cross section.
                                                      26 Adaxial side of leaves without 2 marginal veins more prominent than midvein; young leaves V-shaped or rounded in cross section.