Carex alba

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Carex alba
Carex alba sl15.jpg
Habit
Carex alba illustration (01) (cropped).jpg
Botanical illustration
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Carex
Species:
C. alba
Binomial name
Carex alba
Synonyms [1]
List

Carex alba, called the small white sedge, white-flowered sedge or just white sedge (a name it shares with other members of its genus), is a species of sedge in the family Cyperaceae. [2] It is typically found in temperate forests of Eurasia, from the Pyrenees to the Russian Far East. [1] It is the main host plant for the woodland brown butterfly, Lopinga achine . [3]

Description

Carex alba is a species of sedge, typically growing in thick clumps between 15–30 cm (5.9–11.8 in) in height. Stems are slender, trigonous, smooth; with sheaths that are leafless at the base. Leaves are shorter than the stem, and flat-bladed. Bracts are greenish-brown and sheathlike. Flowers take the form of terminal spikes, and are white in colour. Nutlets are dark brown, obovate-elliptic, trigonous. Flowers and fruits in June to July. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Carex</i> Genus of flowering plants

Carex is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges. Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus Carex may be called true sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of Carex is known as caricology.

<i>Cyperus bulbosus</i> Species of plant

Cyperus bulbosus is a species of sedge found across Africa, the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Australia. In Australia, it is commonly called Nalgoo or (Australian) bush onion or "wild onion", but is not related to the onion or other Alliaceae. It is a component of Australian bushfood, but is considered an agricultural weed in other areas.

<i>Lopinga achine</i> Species of butterfly

Lopinga achine, the woodland brown, is a Palearctic butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.

<i>Carex pendula</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex pendula is a large sedge of the genus Carex. It occurs in woodland, scrubland, hedges and beside streams, preferring damp, heavy clay soils. It is sometimes grown as a garden plant because of its distinctive appearance.

<i>Carex concinnoides</i> Species of sedge

Carex concinnoides is a species of sedge known by the common name northwestern sedge. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it can be found in moist or dry habitat, often in woodland and forested slopes, on silty and clay soils. This sedge produces loose clumps of stems up to about 35 centimeters in maximum height from long rhizomes. The leaves are thick but narrow, sickle-shaped, and pale green in color. Inflorescences occur at the stem tips, and some pistillate inflorescences grow from nodes along the stem. The spikelets have purplish bracts. The pistillate flowers have four stigmas on each pistil, an identifying characteristic. The fruit is coated in a sac called a perigynium, which is white to light brown in color, purple-tipped, and covered in hairs.

<i>Carex vesicaria</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex vesicaria is an essentially Holarctic species of sedge known as bladder sedge, inflated sedge, and blister sedge. It has been used to insulate footwear in Norway and among the Sami people, and for basketry in North America.

<i>Carex pensylvanica</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex pensylvanica is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family commonly called Pennsylvania sedge. Other common names include early sedge, common oak sedge, and yellow sedge.

Carex klamathensis is a rare species of sedge known by the common name Klamath sedge. It is known from 15 or fewer populations in southern Oregon and three populations in the Klamath Region of northern California. It was described to science only in 2007. Its habitat includes fens and other wet habitat, on serpentine soils. It was discovered independently by botanists Peter Zika and Lawrence Janeway.

<i>Carex hirta</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex hirta, the hairy sedge or hammer sedge, is a species of sedge native across Europe. It has characteristic hairy leaves and inflorescences, and is the type species of the genus Carex.

<i>Carex pilulifera</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex pilulifera, the pill sedge, is a European species of sedge found in acid heaths, woods and grassland from Macaronesia to Scandinavia. It grows up to 30 cm (12 in) tall, with 2–4 female spikes and 1 male spike in an inflorescence. These stalks bend as the seeds ripen, and the seeds are collected and dispersed by ants of the species Myrmica ruginodis.

<i>Carex fascicularis</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex fascicularis, commonly known as tassel sedge, is a species of sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea.

Carex tereticaulis, also known as basket sedge, is a species of sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to southern parts of Western Australia, southern parts of South Australia, southern and eastern parts of New South Wales as well as north western and central Victoria and Tasmania. The Koori peoples know the plant as Poong'ort.

<i>Cyperus compressus</i> Species of plant in Cyperaceae family endemic to Asia, Africa and the Americas

Cyperus compressus, commonly known as annual sedge, is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that has a wide distribution throughout countries with warmer climates. It is found in tropical areas of Africa, Asia and the Americas.

<i>Carex davisii</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex davisii, known as Davis' sedge or awned graceful sedge, is a species of Carex native to North America. It is listed as an endangered, threatened, or species of concern across much of edge of its range. It was named in the 1820s by Lewis David de Schweinitz and John Torrey in honor of Emerson Davis (1798–1866), a Massachusetts educator and "enthusiastic student of the genus" Carex.

<i>Carex remota</i> Species of flowering plant

Carex remota, the remote sedge, is a species in the genus Carex, native to Europe, the Atlas Mountains in Africa, and western Asia. It is a riparian forest specialist. It is known as one of the most frequently hybridizing species of Carex, forming hybrids with C. appropinquata, C. arenaria, C. brizoides, C. canescens, C. divulsa, C. echinata, C. elongata, C. leporina, C. otrubae, C. paniculata, and C. spicata.

<i>Carex pilosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the Carex family

Carex pilosa, called hairy sedge or wimper sedge is a species of flowering plant in the genus Carex, native to central and eastern Europe as far as the Urals. It is typically found in temperate forests, where it may be the dominant species on the forest floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nīcgale forest</span> Protected landscape area

Nīcgale forest is Latvia protected landscape area in Augšdaugava Municipality, in Nīcgale Parish, east of Nīcgale. At the eastern point of the territory is Nicgale Great Stone.

<i>Carex elongata</i> Species of flowering plant

Carex elongata, the elongated sedge, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cyperaceae, native to Europe, the Caucasus, western Siberia, Kazakhstan, and the Altai. It occurs in boggy woodland and wet meadows, where it forms dense tussocks up to about 1 m tall.

<i>Carex appalachica</i> Species of flowering plant

Carex appalachica, the Appalachian sedge, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cyperaceae, native to eastern temperate forests of the United States and Canada. The plant is wide-ranging in the American Northeast and Southern Canada while in the southern reaches of their range they are generally restricted to high elevations. A member of the large genus Carex, commonly known as sedges, this species is a member of the Carex rosea complex within the subgenus Vignea.

<i>Carex litorosa</i> Species of plant

Carex litorosa, commonly known as sea sedge, is a tussock-forming species of perennial sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to New Zealand.

References

  1. 1 2 "Carex alba". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  2. "Carex alba (CRXAA)". EPPO Global Database. European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  3. Streitberger, Merle; Hermann, Gabriel; Kraus, Wolfgang; Fartmann, Thomas (2012). "Modern forest management and the decline of the Woodland Brown (Lopinga achine) in Central Europe". Forest Ecology and Management. 269: 239–248. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.12.028.
  4. "Carex alba Scop". The World Flora Online. October 30, 2024.