Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Unknown Sedge

I was really hoping I could ID this sedge before I posted it, but I've had no luck. Perhaps a sedge expert is lurking out there and will chime in.

We found this sedge (note the triangular leaves - an important clue that it is a sedge and not a rush or a grass) down at the Ice Meadows.

It was such a lovely thing that I had to take its photo.

Up close it is even more intricate than one could imagine.


I'm leaning toward it being some kind of bulrush (which are in the sedge family), but my books are just not detailed enough. For all I know, it could be a Cladium (Cyperaceae).

4 comments:

  1. Sedges have edges. That's about all I know about them! The closest picture I can see in my guide seems to be Michaux's Sedge (Carex michauxiana)but that's a guess.

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  2. barefootheart - what guide do you have? That's not one that's in my guides, so if there's a better guide out there, I wanna know! I'll look it up on-line and see if it fits. Thanks.

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  3. "Sedges have edges;
    Rushes are round.
    Grasses have nodes right up from (or "down to") the ground."

    As you once told me -- and was posted alongside the trail on our marsh walk in Port Orchard.

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  4. I have Wetland Plants of Ontario, by Newmaster, Harris and Kershaw. Some of the photos are less than fabulous, but the information is pretty good.

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