The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus Carex with over 2,000 species.
Carex is a vast genus of nearly 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.
Carex jamesii, known as James's sedge or grass sedge, is a species of sedge native to North America from Minnesota east to New York and south to Oklahoma and South Carolina. It occurs in mesic hardwood forests and produces fruits from early May to mid July. It has two to four perigynia that are subtended by leaf-like pistillate scales. Its seeds are dispersed by ants.
Carex nigra is a perennial species of plants in the family Cyperaceae native to wetlands of Europe, western Asia, north Africa, and eastern North America. Common names include common sedge, black sedge or smooth black sedge. The eastern limit of its range reaches central Siberia, Turkey and probably the Caucasus.
Carex pauciflora, the few-flowered sedge, is a perennial species of sedge in the family Cyperaceae native to bogs and fens in cool temperate, subarctic, and mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The specific epithet pauciflora refers to the Latin term for 'few flowered'.
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.
Carex binervis, the green-ribbed sedge, is a European species of sedge with an Atlantic distribution. It is found from Fennoscandia to the Iberian Peninsula, and occurs in heaths, moorland and other damp, acidic environments. It typically grows to a height of 15–120 cm (6–50 in), and has inflorescences comprising one male and several female spikes, each up to 45 mm (1.8 in) long. The utricles have two conspicuous green veins, which give rise to both the scientific name and the common name of the species. In the vegetative state, it closely resembles C. bigelowii, a species that usually grows at higher altitude. C. binervis was first described by James Edward Smith in 1800, and is classified in Carex sect. Spirostachyae; several hybrids with other Carex species are known.
Carex subg. Carex is a subgenus of the sedge genus Carex. It is the largest of the four traditionally recognised subgenera, containing around 1400 of the 2000 species in the genus. Its members are characterised by the presence of one or more exclusively male (staminate) terminal spikes, quite dissimilar in appearance from the lateral female (pistillate) spikes below. In most species, the female flowers have three stigmas, but a few species, including Carex nigra, have female flowers with only two stigmas.
Carex kobomugi is a species of sedge, known as the Japanese sedge or Asiatic sand sedge, that lives in sandy coastal areas of eastern Asia, and has become an invasive species in the north-eastern United States.
Carex viridula, known as little green sedge, green sedge, or greenish sedge, is a small flowering plant native to North America, Europe, Asia, and Morocco.
Peter William Ball is an English-born botanist, plant collector, and plant taxonomist, specializing in caricology.
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.
Carex pedunculata, the long-stalk sedge or longstalk sedge, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Carex, native to Canada and the central and eastern United States. Its seeds are dispersed by ants.
Carex pilosa, called hairy 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.
Carex divulsa, the grey sedge, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Carex, native to Macaronesia, Europe, northwest Africa, the Caucasus region, and the Middle East as far east as Turkmenistan. It has been introduced to northeast Argentina, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, the North Island of New Zealand, and Tasmania and Victoria in Australia. It is the namesake of the Carex divulsa aggregate.
Carex tenuiflora, the sparse-flowered sedge, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to the Subarctic and Hemiboreal Northern Hemisphere; Alaska, Canada, the northern US, Scandinavia, the Baltic States, all of Russia, the north Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, Mongolia, northern China, Korea, and Japan. It is most often found in peatlands, preferring a pH of 6.
Carex chlorosaccus is a species of sedge in the family Cyperaceae, native to the Gulf of Guinea islands, southwestern Cameroon, and central and eastern tropical Africa. It is typically found in upland grasslands and the understories of montane forests.
Carex peregrina is a species of sedge, with a remarkably disjunct distribution; it is found in the Azores and Madeira islands in the eastern Atlantic, and more than 6,000 km (3,700 mi) away in the mountains of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, in east Africa. It prefers to grow in montane forests but occasionally is found sunny grasslands from 2,300 to 3,500 m above sea level.
Carex adrienii, known in China as guang dong tai cao, is a tussock-forming species of perennial sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is native from southern China in the north to Vietnam in the south.
