Blue Ridge sedge
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Carex lucorum Willd. ex Link
Common name(s): Blue Ridge sedge, fire sedge
Link(s): USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- early flower late April
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- full flower, late April
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- late April, crop field
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- flower detail, male spike above and female below
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- Blue Ridge sedge in spring, with last years fruit and leaves
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- early June
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- early June
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- inflorescence detail showing seed development, June
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- leaves can be yellowish-green
Description:
– perennial
– has long, slender rhizomes
-leaf blade is 0.5-4 mm wide
– looks similar to C. nigra, especially when not in bloom or in early bloom. See Go Botany webpage for C. nigra. May also be confused with C. communis, which occurs in wild blueberry fields, or C. pensylvanica
Habitat:
-dry
-well drained soils
-forests
-grasslands
-woodlands
Acknowledgement(s):
Go Botany. “Carex Lucorum Willd. Ex Link.” Carex Lucorum (Blue Ridge Sedge): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/carex/lucorum/.
Eric T. Doucette, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Biology, MA College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA (updated Feb 2018)