Carex en rosace

Carex convoluta Mackenzie

Plants without conspicuous rhizomes. Culms 20–90 cm, (1.5–) 1.6–2.2 mm wide basally, 0.5–0.9 mm wide distally. Leaves: sheaths tight, green, fronts hyaline; ligules less than 2 mm, wider than long; widest leaf blades 1.8–2.6 mm wide. Inflorescences 2–7 cm × 5–8 mm; proximal internodes more than 2 times as long as proximal spikes; proximal bracts to 6(–10) cm; spikes with 7–14 spreading perigynia; spikes 4–8. Pistillate scales hyaline with green midvein, ovate to circular-ovate, 1.4–2.1 × 1–1.8 mm, body 1/2 length of perigynium, apex obtuse, acute, or awned. Anthers 0.8–1.3 mm. Perigynia green, faces not veined, 2.6–4(–4.2) × 1.1–1.8 mm, base of body spongy, thickened, longitudinally striate adaxially, spongy region 0.8–1.3 mm, margins serrulate distally; beak 0.6–1.2 mm, apical teeth 0.1–0.5 mm. Stigmas coiled or twisted, 0.07–0.1 mm wide. Achenes ovate to obovate, 1.6–2.2 × 1.1–1.6 mm. 2n = 52.

Fruiting mid–late spring. Dry to mesic deciduous or mixed forests; 50–1000 m; Man., N.B., N.S., Ont., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.