Home Cyperaceae Carex

Carex canescens L.

Common Name: SEDGE
Coefficient of Conservatism: 8
Coefficient of Wetness: -5
Wetness Index: OBL
Physiognomy: Nt P-Sedge

Usually in sphagnum bogs and older tamarack, cedar, and fir stands; also pond and stream margins, marshy or boggy ground, alder thickets, and rarely elm-maple swamps.

The majority of our specimens are presumably the eastern North American subsp. disjuncta (Fernald) Toivonen, with inflorescences mostly 6–12 cm long, often nodding, and the spikes well separated, with the two lower spikes separated by more than 1.5 cm. This taxon occurs throughout the state. Most common in the Upper Peninsula is the circumboreal subsp. canescens with inflorescences 3–7 cm long and the spikes closer together, even the lowest separated by less than 1.5 cm. Separation of the two subspecies often seems arbitrary in Michigan, and their meaning in Michigan is unclear. Small specimens may be hard to tell from Carex brunnescens, but the papillose perigynia are diagnostic; those of C. brunnescens are smooth.

R. Routledge

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Counties
Alcona
Alger
Allegan
Alpena
Arenac
Baraga
Barry
Benzie
Berrien
Calhoun
Cass
Charlevoix
Cheboygan
Chippewa
Clare
Crawford
Delta
Eaton
Emmet
Genesee
Gogebic
Grand Traverse
Gratiot
Houghton
Huron
Ingham
Ionia
Iosco
Iron
Jackson
Kalamazoo
Kalkaska
Kent
Keweenaw
Lake
Leelanau
Lenawee
Livingston
Luce
Mackinac
Macomb
Marquette
Mason
Mecosta
Midland
Monroe
Montmorency
Muskegon
Newaygo
Oakland
Ogemaw
Ontonagon
Oscoda
Presque Isle
Roscommon
Schoolcraft
Shiawassee
St. Clair
St. Joseph
Tuscola
Washtenaw
Wexford

Citation:
MICHIGAN FLORA ONLINE. A. A. Reznicek, E. G. Voss, & B. S. Walters. February 2011. University of Michigan. Web. March, 17, 2025
https://lsa-miflora-p.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/#/record/925