Torrent Sedge

Carex nudata is also a member of the C. stricta group and is distinguished from sympatric members of the group by flowering from first-year shoots and having very narrow inflorescence bracts and somewhat elongated, heavily veined perigynia. It has a very distinctive growth form and habitat, dense tussocks among rocks in streambeds.

Plants cespitose, flowering from first-year shoots. Culms acutely angled, 35–70 cm, glabrous. Leaves: basal sheaths red-brown; sheaths of proximal leaves bladeless, scabrous, fronts with red-brown spots, prominently ladder-fibrillose, apex red-brown, U-shaped; blades hypostomic, 2–4 mm wide, papillose abaxially. Inflorescences: proximal bract shorter than inflorescence, 1–2 mm wide. Spikes erect; staminate 1–2; pistillate 2–4; proximal pistillate spike 2–4.5 cm × 5–6 mm, base cuneate. Pistillate scales dark red-brown to black, shorter than perigynia, apex obtuse, awnless. Perigynia ascending, pale brown with red-brown spots on apical 1/2, often blackish apically, 5–9-veined on each face, somewhat flattened, loosely enclosing achenes, thin-walled, ovoid or ellipsoid, 2.2–4 × 1.2–1.8 mm, leathery, dull, apex rounded or obtuse, papillose; beak red-brown, 0.1–0.3 mm. Achenes not constricted, dull. 2n = 70, 72.

Calif., Oreg., Wash.

Fruiting Jun–Jul.

Dense tussocks in rocky streambeds; 0–1500m.

Carex acutina L. H. Bailey; C. bishallii C. B. Clarke; C. hallii L. H. Bailey 1887, not Olney 1872; C. nudata var. anomala L. H. Bailey; C. suborbiculata Mackenzie; C. tenacissima Suksdorf

Carex suborbiculata Mackenzie, in Abrams, 111. Fl. Pacif. St
1 : 338. /. 825. 1923.
Very densely cespitose, the rootstocks descending obliquely, the new shoots at the base of the old, the culms erect, stiff but slender, 3-4.5 dm. high, sharply triangular, strongly papillate, slightly roughened above, exceeding leaves, strongly aphyllopodic, reddish-tinged at base, mostly arising laterally ; sterile shoots strongly aphyllopodic; leaves with well-developed blades 2-4 to a fertile culm, on lower third, little clustered, the blades light-green, strongly papillate, thin, very narrow, channeled towards the base, the margins revolute, usually 1-2 dm. long, 1.25-2 mm. wide, long-attenuate, roughened towards the apex, especially on the margins, the sheaths minutely hispidulous and rounded or the lowest subcarinate dorsally, yellowish-tinged and red-dotted ventrally and breaking and becoming filamentose, the ligule very short; terminal spike staminate, or often pistillate below, short-peduncled, 1.5 cm. long, 3 mm. wide, the scales oblong-obovate, very obtuse, purplish-black with conspicuous lightcolored center not extending to apex, the margins scarcely hyaline; pistillate spikes 3 or 4, erect, the lower short-peduncled and more or less strongly separate, the upper sessile or nearly so and closely aggregated, linear, 1-2.5 cm. long, 3-4 mm. wide, closely flowered, not attenuate at base, containing 15-40 spreading perigynia in few to several rows; lowest bract leaflet-like or setaceous, sheathless, not dark-auricled, from much shorter than to equaling inflorescence, the upper much reduced, inconspicuously biauriculate; scales widely spreading, oblong, very obtuse, purplish-black, with conspicuous light-colored midvein not extending to apex, the margins scarcely hyaline, much narrower and somewhat shorter than the perigynia; perigynia broadly oval-ovoid or broadly obovoid, 2.5 mm. long, 1.5-1.75 mm. wide, inflated and suborbicular in cross-section, dull-whitish, purplish-blotched, membranaceous, puncticulate, 2-ribbed (the marginal) and conspicuously slenderly fewto several-nerved both dorsally and ventrally, the margins not denticulate, rounded and substipitate at base, rounded and abruptly apiculate at apex, the beak 0.2 mm. long, entire or slightly emarginate, straight or somewhat bent; achenes lenticular, suborbicular, 1.25 mm. long, nearly as wide, nearly filling lower two thirds of perigynium-body, broadly substipitate, abruptly short-apiculate, jointed with the rather short, slender style; stigmas 2, slender, rather short.
Type locality: Mountain streams, Klickitat county, Washington (Suksdorf 1315). Distribution: Along mountain streams, Klickitat and Skamania counties, Washington; Oregon, Hall 593. (Specimens examined showing range as given.)

Carex nudata W. Boott, in S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 241. 1880
Carex angustata Boott, in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 218, in part. 1839. (As to Oregon specimens.) "Carex decidua Boott" Boott, Pacif. R. R. Rep. 4: 153. 1857. Not C. decidua Boott, 1846. "Carex elata All." Olney; A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 407. 1872. Carex Hallii L. H. Bailey, Proc. Am. Acad. 22: 82. 1886. (Type from^Oregon.) Not C. Hallii
Olney, 1871. "Carex acuta L." L. H. Bailey, Proc. Am. Acad. 22: 86, in part. 1886. Carex nudata var. anguslifolia L. H. Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1 : 16, in part. 1889. (As to Trask
River specimens.) Carex Tohniei var. angustata L. H. Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1: 47. 1889. (Type from Kerby-
ville, Oregon.) Carex acutina L. H. Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1 : 52. 1889. (Type from Deschutes River, Oregon.) Carex pulchella Holm, Am. Jour. Sci. IV. 16 : 457. 1903. (Based on C. Hallii L. H. Bailey.)
Very densely cespitose, the rootstocks decending obliquely, the new shoots coming up at the base of the old, the culms 3-8 dm. high, slender but strict, sharply triangular, papillate, more or less strongly roughened above, much exceeding the leaves, strongly purplish-tinged at base, strongly aphyllopodic and largely lateral, the sterile shoots strongly aphyllopodic; leaves with well-developed blades 2-4 to a fertile culm, on lower third, not bunched, the blades erect-ascending, light-green, papillate, thinnish, flat with slightly revolute margins, channeled and keeled towards base, 8-25 cm. long, 1.75-3.5 mm. wide, long-attenuate, roughened towards apex especially on the margins, the sheaths hispidulous and rounded or the lower subcarinate dorsally, hyaline and purplish-dotted or blotched ventrally, the lower breaking and very prominently filamentose; ligule as long as wide or shorter; staminate spike solitary, peduncled, narrowly oblong-linear, 1.5-3.5 cm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, the scales oblong-obovate, very obtuse, blackish with lighter center not extending to apex and narrow hyaline margins; pistillate spikes 2 or 3, often staminate above, erect, approximate, the lowest slightly peduncled, the upper sessile, linear or narrowly oblong-linear, 1-4 cm. long, 5-7 mm. wide, closely flowered throughout or slightly attenuate at base, the perigynia 30-100, ascending in several to many rows; lowest bract setaceous or occasionally leaflet-like, much shorter than culm, purplish-black, biauriculate, the upper much reduced, very prominently purplish-black, biauriculate ; scales oblong or oblong-obovate, obtuse or acutish, purplish-black with lighter midvein not extending to apex and very narrow hyaline margins, about length of but narrower than perigynia; perigynia oblong-obovate or oval-obovate to obovate, plano-convex, strongly flattened, not inflated, 2.5-4 mm. long, 1.75 mm. wide, straw-colored below, dark-purplishblotched above, membranaceous, puncticulate, smooth or slightly granular towards apex, 2ribbed (the marginal) and conspicuously slenderly fewto several-nerved both dorsally and ventrally, broadly substipitate, rounded or round-tapering at base, abruptly apiculate, the beak 0.2 mm. long, dark-purplish, entire; achenes lenticular, suborbicular or broadly obovate, 1.75 mm. long, 1.25 mm. wide, rather loosely enveloped in lower half of perigyniumbody, broadly substipitate, abruptly short-apiculate, jointed with the straight, slender style; stigmas 2, slender, short.
Type locality: "In the Coast Ranges, from San Francisco Bay to Ukiah" {Bolander 121, 2299, 3836, 4638, 6202).
Distribution: Rocky beds of fast-flowing streams, from western Oregon to Santa Clara County, California, and in the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada to Mariposa county, California. (Specimens examined showing range as stated.)

Carex nudata is a species of true sedge known by several common names, including torrent sedge, California black-flowering sedge, Dudley's sedge, and naked sedge.