Carex crépu

Carex crinita var. minor Boott; C. crinita var. morbida J. Carey; C. leonura Wahlenberg

Culms 40–135 cm, scabrous. Leaf blades 14–50 cm × 3.3–10.3 mm. Inflorescences: peduncle of pistillate spike 1.4–6.9 cm; proximal bract 3.7–10.9 mm wide; pistillate spikes 2–5; the proximal 3.5–11.5 cm × 4.2–6.8 mm. Pistillate scales (including awn) 3.4–11.2 mm. Perigynia divergent to ascending, ellipsoid to obovoid, 1.8–3.7 × 1.2–2.5 mm, apex rounded or obtuse; beak 0.1–0.3 mm. Achenes variously constricted. 2n = 66, 68.

Fruiting Jun–Aug. Swamps, floodplain forests, wet meadows, marshes, bogs, stream edges, margins of lakes and ponds, roadside ditches; 0–1500 m; Man., N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Carex crinita var. crinita is sympatric and often syntopic with C. gynandra over a significant portion of its distribution; hybridization between the two taxa has been observed. Carex crinita var. paleacea (Wahlenberg) Dewey is a misapplication of the epithet to long-awned extremes of C. crinita var. crinita.