Carex pensylvanica

Last updated

Pennsylvania sedge
CarexPensylvanica.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Carex
Subgenus: Carex subg. Carex
Section: Carex sect. Acrocystis
Species:
C. pensylvanica
Binomial name
Carex pensylvanica
Synonyms [2]

Carex pensylvanica is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family commonly called Pennsylvania sedge (sometimes shortened to Penn sedge). [3] Other common names include early sedge, common oak sedge, and yellow sedge. [4]

Contents

Distribution

This plant is native to North America, especially eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Based on a census of the literature, herbaria specimens, and confirmed sightings, C. pensylvanica is found in Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec in Canada; and in the United States it is most widely distributed in Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, mainland Rhode Island, Virginia and Wisconsin. it is also known from northern Alabama, the western Carolinas, the mostly eastern Dakotas, northern and southern Delaware, northern Georgia, western Iowa, mostly northern Indiana, northern and eastern Missouri, mostly central and eastern Ohio, and mostly central Tennessee. It is also found in Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland and the District of Columbia, New York, West Virginia, and Vermont. It has been reported from just one county, Lee, in the far northeastern portion of the state of Mississippi. [2]

Description

A colony of Pennsylvania sedge in the Morton Arboretum Pennsylvania Sedge or Common Oak Sedge (Carex pensylvanica) in East Woods of the Morton Arboretum - Flickr - Jay Sturner.jpg
A colony of Pennsylvania sedge in the Morton Arboretum

Pennsylvania sedge produces leaves up to 2 ft (0.6 m) long and 1 to 3 mm (0.04 to 0.12 in) wide that become arching at maturity. [5] It has culms (stems) 10 to 45 cm (4 to 18 in) long. [6]

Pennsylvania sedge blooms early in the spring, from April to June. [6] [4] Each flower cluster contains one slender staminate (male) spike 10 to 25 mm (38 to 1 in) long above one to three shorter pistillate (female) spikes each with 4 to 12 florets. During the blooming period, the staminate spike produces slender cream-colored anthers, aging to light brown, and each pistillate floret produces three long white, thread-like styles. The scales underneath the florets are dark purple. [3] [5]

Ecology

This competitive species is often found in large monotypic stands. It is mainly vegetative, spreading via systems of cordlike rhizomes. Shorter rhizomes produce tufts, clumps, and mats, and longer rhizomes form wide, matted colonies. [4]

In order to assess the dynamics of three stress factors on Carex pensylvanica development on forest beds, researchers conducted an experiment consisting of even-aged silvicultural systems. [7] Combinations of deer herbivory, invasive earthworm activity, and forest management (human activity) were managed as the stressors. The study's findings demonstrated a direct correlation between elevated C. pensylvanica coverage and high disturbance levels, notably invasive earthworm-management-deer interactions, and invasive earthworm density. [8]

In hardwood forests in northern Minnesota, Carex pensylvanica were found to have a greater dominance in comparison to other understory plant species in areas where invasive earthworms were present for two decades or more. It is hypothesized that since Carex pensylvanica is a non-mycorrhizal plant species, it gains a comparative competitive advantage against other understory plant species when earthworms disrupt and sever mycorrhizal networks. [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

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

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

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

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<i>Carex bigelowii</i> Species of grass-like flowering plant

Carex bigelowii is a species of sedge known by the common names Bigelow's sedge, Gwanmo sedge, and stiff sedge. It has an Arctic–alpine distribution in Eurasia and North America, and grows up to 50 centimetres (20 in) tall in a variety of habitats.

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

Carex concinna is a species of sedge known by the common names low northern sedge, northern elegant sedge, beauty sedge, and beautiful sedge. It is native to northern North America, where it occurs across Canada and in high elevations in the northern contiguous United States.

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

Carex inops is a species of sedge known as long-stolon sedge and western oak sedge. It is native to northern North America, where it occurs throughout the southern half of Canada and the western and central United States.

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

Carex livida is a species of sedge known by the common names livid sedge and pale sedge.

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

Carex saxatilis is a species of sedge known by the common names rock sedge and russet sedge.

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

Carex lacustris, known as lake sedge, is a tufted grass-like perennial of the sedge family (Cyperaceae), native to southern Canada and the northern United States. C. lacustris us an herbaceous surface-piercing plant that grows in water up to 50 cm (1.6 ft) deep, and grows 50–150 cm (1.6–4.9 ft) tall. It grows well in marshes and swampy woods of the boreal forest, along river and lake shores, in ditches, marshes, swamps, and other wetland habitat. It grows on muck, sedge peat, wet sand or silt, in filtered or full sunlight.

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

Carex arctata, known as drooping woodland sedge, is a species of sedge native to eastern North America. It is sometimes called black sedge, compressed sedge, or drooping wood sedge. It occurs from Manitoba to the Maritimes in Canada, south to northwestern North Carolina, and west to Minnesota. Carex arctata grows in bogs, hardwood forests, and spruce forests.

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

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

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

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<i>Carex novae-angliae</i> Species of grass-like plant

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

Carex glaucescens is a perennial sedge that belongs to the family Cyperaceae. The common name of this sedge is the southern waxy sedge due to the blue-grey, waxy appearance of the sheaths and fruits. The term "glaucous" means "gleaming" or "grey" in Latin; the specific epithet of C. glaucescens is derived from this term. Carex glaucescens is a native plant in North America and is an obligate wetland species in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains, Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, and the Great Plains.

References

  1.  C. pensylvanica was first described and published in Encyclopedie Methodique. Botanique ... (Lamarck) 3(2): 388. 1792. Paris.
    "Carex pensylvanica". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens . Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  2. 1 2 USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Carex pensylvanica". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Hilty, John (2020). "Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica)". Illinois Wildflowers. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 Cope, A. B. (1992). "Carex pensylvanica". Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
  5. 1 2 Chayka, Katy; Dziuk, Peter (2016). "Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania Sedge)". Minnesota Wildflowers.
  6. 1 2 Ball, Peter W.; Reznicek, A. A. (2002). "Carex pensylvanica". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 23. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  7. Kern, Christel C.; Palik, Brian J.; Strong, Terry F. (July 2006). "Ground-layer plant community responses to even-age and uneven-age silvicultural treatments in Wisconsin northern hardwood forests". Forest Ecology and Management. 230 (1–3): 162–170. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2006.03.034.
  8. Powers, Matthew D.; Nagel, Linda M. (July 2008). "Disturbance dynamics influence Carex pensylvanica abundance in a northern hardwood forest1". The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. 135 (3): 317–327. doi:10.3159/08-RA-034.1. ISSN   1095-5674. S2CID   86531642.
  9. Powers, Matthew D.; Nagel, Linda M. (2008). "Disturbance dynamics influence Carex pensylvanica abundance in a northern hardwood forest1". The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. 135 (3): 317. doi:10.3159/08-RA-034.1. ISSN   1095-5674.
  10. Alexander, G.; Almendinger, J.; White, P. (2022). "Access Electronic Resources". Plant-Environment Interactions (Hoboken, N.j.). 3 (2): 89–102. doi:10.1002/pei3.10075. PMC   10168095 . PMID   37284009.