Carex venusta Dewey var. minor Böckler
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Detail
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- Botanical Name
- Carex venusta Dewey var. minor Böckler
- Common Name
- Southern Dark Green Sedge
- Synonym(s)
- Carex oblita Steudel
- Flora of Virginia Name/Status
- Carex oblita Steudel
- Comments
- FNA synonymizes Carex venusta var. minor Boekler (= C. oblita), representing plants with slightly smaller, glabrous perigynia, under Carex venusta, stating that variability in the differential characters is greater within populations than between them. However, FNA also mentions evidence of two geographically correlated "taxonomic entities" within C. venusta, differing in peryginium size/shape, chromosome numbers, and allozyme patterns. The southern entity (TX to NC) has both glabrous and pubescent perigynia, while the northern entity (NC to NY) is supposed to always have glabrous perigynia.
Plants with glabrous perigynia matching C. oblita have been collected in Virginia, but only in the Coastal Plain counties south of the James River. They appear to be much less common than plants with pubescent perigynia matching typical C. venusta, which have been collected as far north as Caroline County and in the extreme outer Piedmont. This conflicts with FNA's postulation of a wholly glabrous entity from NC northward and makes us leery of treating this sedge at species rank. As always, further study is warranted.
- Habitat
- Bogs, seeps, and boggy power-line clearings. Infrequent in the s. Coastal Plain, s. of the James River.
- Native Status
- Native
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