Carex copulata (L.H. Bailey) Mackenzie
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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