Carex oklahomensis Mackenzie

Locations ofCarex oklahomensis Mackenzie in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Cyperaceae
Botanical Name
Carex oklahomensis Mackenzie
Common Name
Oklahoma Sedge
Synonym(s)
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Carex oklahomensis Mackenzie
Comments
First documented in Virginia in 1995 from a Giles County roadbank by Fleming; see Castanea 63:85. After a 27-year period without further documentation, it was discovered in both Goochland and Louisa counties in the central Piedmont; then, in 2023, it was found in Fairfax County. At the central Virginia sites, it grows in moist to boggy clearings in extremely acidic soils; at the Fairfax site, it grows in a sewer line right-of-way. Native to the central U.S.; records to the north and east are recent, suggesting an actively expanding range. This species resembles Carex stipata and C. laevivaginata but can be readily distinguished by its overall blue-green color, solid terete stem, and bladeless lower sheaths.
Habitat
Calcareous roadbank seeps in Giles County; moist, acid-soil meadow and boggy powerline clearing in the central Piedmont (Goochland and Louisa counties); sewer line right-of-way in the fall zone region of Fairfax Co.. Apparently infrequent or rare, but quite common at the Louisa Co. site, and likely occurring undetected in other areas.
Native Status
Introduced

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