Carex tenuiflora Wahlenb.:
Canada (North America)
Japan (Asia)
Mongolia (Asia)
North Korea (Asia)
Russian Federation (Asia)
South Korea (Asia)
United States (North America)
China (Asia)

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Global Range: Circumboreal, south in N. America to NY, MN, and MT. Peripheral.

Plants loosely cespitose; rhizomes long, slender. Culms ± erect, weak, 10–50 cm. Leaves: sheaths pale brown abaxially, inner band hyaline, concave at summit; ligules as long as wide; blades pale green, flat or channeled, 5–15 cm × 0.5–2 mm. Inflorescences erect, ovoid or suborbicular, 0.6–1.2 cm × 4–9 mm; proximal bracts scalelike, sometimes bristlelike, shorter than inflorescences. Spikes 2–4, gynecandrous, closely approximate, containing 3–15 perigynia, short-oblong, 4–9 × 3–6 mm. Pistillate scales white-hyaline with green, 3-veined center, ovate, subequal to perigynia, apex obtuse. Perigynia appressed-ascending, gray-green, obscurely few-veined, obovate-elliptic, 3–3.5 × 1.5–1.75 mm, subcoriaceous; beak absent or nearly so. Achenes pale brown, oblong-elliptic, 1.5–2 × 1.25(–1.5) mm, glossy. 2n = 58.

C. TENUIFLORA could be confused with two other more common peatland sedges: C. INTERIOR and C. CANESCENS. The former has lance-shaped perigynia, and both have scales that are only half the length of the perigynia. A hand lens or microscope will be needed to observe these characters.

Fruiting May–Aug. Mires, especially sphagnum bogs, wet woodlands, lowlands; 0–1400 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Colo., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Ohio, N.Y., Vt., Wis.; n Eurasia.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 2
Species: 4
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure