Carex acaulis

Carex acaulis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Carex
Subgenus: C. subg. Carex
Section: C. sect. Abditispicae
Species: C. acaulis
Binomial name
Carex acaulis

Carex acaulis, known as the small dusky sedge,[1] is a species of sedge in the genus Carex native to the Falkland Islands and southern Argentina.

Description

Carex acaulis has at least two flowering spikes; the terminal one contains staminate (male) flowers and is 6–10 millimetres (0.24–0.39 in) long, while the others contain pistillate (female) flowers, each of which is subtended by a 2.5–3.7-millimetre (0.10–0.15 in) scale and may produce a utricle up to 9 mm (0.35 in) long.[2] Carex acaulis is very similar to the closely related species C. macrosolen, and the ranges of the two species overlap,[3] but C. macrosolen has much longer utricles than C. acaulis, at 10–24 mm (0.39–0.94 in) long.[2]

Taxonomy and distribution

Carex acaulis was first described by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1826. He based his description on type material from near Port Louis on East Falkland Island.[3] The holotype was deposited at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris.[3] The species has subsequently been reported from Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, although the Fuegian reports are considered suspect by the sedge expert Gerald Allen Wheeler; many of them actually refer to specimens of Carex sagei.[3][4]

Conservation and ecology

Like many other sedges, Carex acaulis is restricted to wet habitats, such as bogs and lake margins.[3] It is not included on the IUCN Red List, but it is rare in the Falkland Islands, and is listed nationally as a vulnerable species.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Vascular plant checklists". Falklands Conservation. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Gerald A. Wheeler (2002). "A new species of Carex section Abditispicae (Cyperaceae) from South America and additional notes on the section". Darwiniana. 40 (1–4): 191–198.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Gerald Allen Wheeler (1988). "The distribution of Carex acaulis Urv., C. barrosii Nelmes, and C. macrosolen Steudel (Cyperaceae) in austral South America". Taxon. 37 (1): 127–131. JSTOR 1220939.
  4. ↑ Gerald A. Wheeler (2007). "Carex sagei (Cyperaceae), the correct name for C. barrosii" (PDF). Darwiniana. 42 (2): 231–235.
  • "Specimens by collection: Carex acaulis". Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. – includes images of the holotype
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