Carex copulata (L.H. Bailey) Mackenzie

Locations ofCarex copulata (L.H. Bailey) Mackenzie in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Cyperaceae
Botanical Name
Carex copulata (L.H. Bailey) Mackenzie
Common Name
Spreading Sedge
Synonym(s)
Carex laxiculmis Schweinitz var. copulata (Bailey) Fernald
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Carex copulata (L.H. Bailey) Mackenzie
Comments
Sometimes treated as a var. of Carex laxiculmis, but the morphological and ecological differences between the two taxa merit their treatment as species. Carex copulata has green rather than glaucous/blue-green foliage that averages narrower than the foliate of C. laxiculmis (widest leaf 5.9 vs. 8.2 mm). Its pistillate spikes are longer (13.6 vs 10.9 mm) and narrower despite having about the same number or fewer perigynia. It also typically occurs on base-rich soils whereas C. laxiculmis is an acidophile.
Habitat
Rich, well-drained floodplain forests; mesic forests of lower slopes, ravines, and bottoms of small streams; typically in base-rich soils. Infrequent in the sw. mountains, north to Bath and Rockbridge cos.; rare in the n. Piedmont and the inner Coastal Plain of se. Virginia; may be locally common where found.
Native Status
Native

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