Carex hirta

"Hairy sedge" redirects here. For other uses, see List of plants known as hairy sedge.

Carex hirta
Female spikes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Cyperaceae
Genus:	Carex
Subgenus:	Carex subg. Carex
Section:	Carex sect. Carex
Species:	C. hirta
Binomial name
Carex hirta L.

Carex hirta, the hairy sedge or hammer sedge, ^[1] is a species of sedge native across Europe. It has characteristic hairy leaves and inflorescences, and is the type species of the genus Carex .

Description

Terminal male spike

Carex hirta grows 15–70 centimetres (6–28 in) tall, with leaves 10–50 cm (4–20 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.20 in) (occasionally up to 8 mm or 0.3 in) wide. ^[2] The stems are trigonous (roughly triangular in cross-section), but with convex, rounded faces. ^[2] The leaves, leaf sheaths and ligules are all hairy, although plants growing in wetter positions may be less hairy; these have sometimes been separated as C. hirta var. sublaevis by Jens Wilken Hornemann, but this may not be a worthwhile taxon. ^[2] The culms bear 2–3 lateral female spikes, each 10–45 mm (0.4–1.8 in) long, and on half-ensheathed peduncles up to twice the length of the spike. ^[2] There are 2–3 male spikes at the end of the culm, each 10–30 mm (0.4–1.2 in) long. ^[2] The hairy utricles, male glumes and leaves make it hard to confuse Carex hirta with any other Carex species. ^[2]

Distribution

Carex hirta is native to Europe, and is found across the British Isles, albeit with records becoming very scarce in the far north. ^[3] It has been introduced to North America. ^[1] It was first recorded in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1877, and has since been found across much of the eastern United States and Canada. ^[4]

Nomenclature

Carex hirta is the type species of the genus Carex , ^[5] and therefore also of the subgenus Carex and the section Carex. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 Species Plantarum , and the lectotype, from the herbarium of Adriaan van Royen, was designated by Ilkka Kukkonen in 1992. ^{[6] [7]}

References

1. "Carex hirta L." PLANTS Profile. United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved June 1, 2011.
2. A. C. Jermy; D. A. Simpson; M. J. Y. Foley; M. S. Porter (2007). "Carex hirta L.". Sedges of the British Isles. BSBI Handbook No. 1 (3rd ed.). Botanical Society of the British Isles. pp. 285–287. ISBN   978-0-901158-35-2.
3. Peter Llewellyn (March 11, 2010). "Carex hirta hairy sedge". Wild Flowers of the British Isles. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
4. "372. Carex hirta Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 975. 1753". Vol. 23. Cyperaceae. Flora of North America. eFloras.org. pp. 473, 498, 500, 501.
5. Ilkka Kukkonen; Heikki Toivonen (1988). J. M. Bernard (ed.). "Taxonomy of wetland carices". Aquatic Botany . 30 (1–2): 5–22. doi:10.1016/0304-3770(88)90003-4.
6. Natural History Museum (October 9, 2006). "Carex hirta Linnaeus". The Linnaean Plant Name Typification Project. Natural History Museum. doi:10.5519/qwv6u7j5 . Retrieved June 1, 2011.
7. Subcommittee 3C (1992). "Seventy-two proposals for the conservation of types of selected Linnaean generic names, the report of Subcommittee 3C on the lectotypification of Linnaean generic names". Taxon . 41 (3): 552–583. doi:10.2307/1222833. JSTOR   1222833.