Flora of the Southeastern United States

Carex gravida L.H. Bailey. Common name: Pregnant Sedge, Heavy Sedge. Phenology: (Late Apr) May-Jun. Habitat: Damp, mesic, or dry calcareous prairies, fields, pastures, roadsides. Distribution: Ontario west to Saskatchewan, south to Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico, rarely introduced eastward. Steury (1999) reported var. lunelliana as new to Maryland (Calvert County). Reported for Delaware (Longbottom, Naczi, & Knapp 2016).

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: Two varieties or species (see synonymy) are sometimes distinguished: var gravida with perigynia 4-5 mm long, 2× as long as wide, nerveless or very obscurely nerved on the dorsal face, and var. lunelliana, with perigynia 3-4.5 mm long, 1.3-1.5× as long as wide, strongly few-nerved on the dorsal face.

Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, Can, ETx1, FNA23, K4, Mi, Mo1, NcTx, POWO, Va; = n/a — Pa, S, Tat; > Carex gravida L.H. Bailey — Il, Mackenzie (1931-1935); > Carex gravida L.H. Bailey var. gravida — C, F, G, GrPl, K1, NS, Tn; > Carex gravida L.H. Bailey var. lunelliana (Mack.) F.J.Herm. — C, F, G, GrPl, K1, NS, RAB, Tn; > Carex lunelliana Mack. — Il, Mackenzie (1931-1935). Basionym: Carex gravida L.H. Bailey 1889

Links to other floras: = Carex gravida - FNA23

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACW
• Great Plains: FACW
• Midwest: FACU
• Northcentral & Northeast: FACU

Heliophily ⓘ: 7