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Carex pauciflora

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Carex pauciflora
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Carex
Species:
C. pauciflora
Binomial name
Carex pauciflora

Carex pauciflora, the few-flowered sedge,[2] is a perennial species of sedge in the family Cyperaceae native to bogs and fens in cool temperate, subarctic, and mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The specific epithet pauciflora refers to the Latin term for 'few flowered'.[3][4]

Description

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Carex pauciflora grows to 60 centimetres (24 in) tall at most, although it more commonly grows to 10–40 centimetres (3.9–15.7 in) tall. It is a rhizomatous perennial with culms that grow alone or in diffuse clusters.[5] A survey of populations in Estonia assessed a mean rhizome length of 4.1 centimetres (1.6 in), although rhizomes up to 35 centimetres (14 in) long have been recorded.[6] The blades may be up to 13 centimetres (5.1 in) long and 1.6 millimetres (0.063 in) wide, and no more than three blades occur on each culm.[5] Every part of the plant is hairless.[7]

Each flower only contains either male or female reproductive structures, although the plants themselves are monoecious. Each culm bears only one spike, with female flowers located below the male flowers on the spike.[8] Female flowers may be less well-developed in unfavorable habitats.[9]

Carex pauciflora seeds are dispersed mechanically. The perigynium is launched outward when it comes into contact with an object and tissue at its base is compressed, which then acts as a spring when the pressure is released.[10]

Distribution and habitat

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Carex pauciflora has a circumboreal distribution, occurring in cool temperate and subarctic areas throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It grows in bogs and other wet areas with acidic soil.[1] It is known to occur at elevations ranging from 75–1,390 metres (246–4,560 ft) in the US state of Washington[5] where it is classified as S2 (imperiled) by NatureServe,[11] although it is classified globally as a species of least concern by the IUCN Red List.[1] Populations are known from every Canadian province or territory except Nunavut, although its presence was only discovered in the Northwest Territory in 2013, at a site near Fort Simpson.[12] In Ukraine it is present in bogs and fens in the Carpathians[13] and in the Ovruch Raion of the Zhytomyr Oblast near the border with Belarus.[14]

Recreational activity threatens some populations in North America.[5] The species has declined in Estonia due to development of its wetland habitats, although it has not been as severely impacted as some other sedge species.[6] Populations in the Ukrainian Carpathians are threatened by climate change. The bogs that Carex pauciflora inhabits in the Ukrainian Carpathians are drying out and being invaded by shrubs, and fens that the sedge also inhabits are being invaded by trees and shrubs such as Pinus mugo, Alnus alnobetula, Salix silesiaca, and Picea abies. Manual removal of more competitive non-wetland plants has been suggested as a conservation measure.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Landsdown, R. V. (2016). "Few-flowered Sedge". IUCN Red List. ISSN 2307-8235. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  2. ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  3. ^ Allen J. Coombes The A to Z of Plant Names: A Quick Reference Guide to 4000 Garden Plants, p. 106, at Google Books
  4. ^ D. Gledhill The Names of Plants, p. 220, at Google Books
  5. ^ a b c d Camp, Pamela; Gamon, John G. (February 2011). "Carex pauciflora" (PDF). Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Washington. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-29-599092-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  6. ^ a b Kull, Thea; Kull, Tiiu (2006). "Habitat loss and reproduction biology as related to decline in rare Carex species". Ekológia (Bratislava) [Ecology (Bratislava)]. 25 (3). De Gruyter: 280–288.
  7. ^ Hitchcock, Charles Leo; Cronquist, Arthur (October 2018) [1973]. Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual (2nd ed.). University of Washington Press. pp. 722–727. ISBN 978-0-29-574288-5.
  8. ^ Cochrane, Theodore S. (2002). Flora of North America North of Mexico. Vol. 23. Oxford University Press. p. 560. ISBN 0-19-515207-7. Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  9. ^ Sosnovska, S. V. (2015). "Stateva struktura populyatsiy Carex pauciflora i C. dioica (Cyperaceae) v Ukrayini" Статеве структура популяцій Carex pauciflora і C. dioica (Cyperaceae) в Україні [Sexual structure of populations of Carex pauciflora and Carex dioica (Cyperaceae) in Ukraine]. Ukrayins'kyy Botanichnyy Zhurnal Український Ботанічний Журнал [Ukrainian Botanical Journal] (in Ukrainian). 72 (3). National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: 229–236. doi:10.15407/ukrbotj72.03.229.
  10. ^ Hutton, E. E. (December 1976). "Dissemination of Perigynia in Carex pauciflora". Castanea. 41 (4). Southern Appalachian Botanical Society: 346–348. eISSN 1938-4386. ISSN 0008-7475. JSTOR 4032727.
  11. ^ "Carex pauciflora". NatureServe. 30 June 2023. Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  12. ^ Garon-Labrecque, Marie-Ève; Léveillé-Bourret, Étienne; Higgins, Kellina; Sonnentag, Oliver (October 2015). "Additions to the boreal flora of the Northwest Territories with a preliminary vascular flora of Scotty Creek". The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 129 (4). Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club: 349–367. doi:10.22621/cfn.v129i4.1757 – via PKP Publishing Services.
  13. ^ a b Cherepanyn, R. M. (March 2018). "Effect of climate changes on the habitat of rare arctic-alpine plant species in high mountain part of the Ukrainian Carpathians". Biologichni Studii Біологічні Студії [Biological Studies] (in Ukrainian). 12 (1). University of Lviv: 73–86. doi:10.30970/sbi.1201.544. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  14. ^ Sosnovska, Svitlana; Danylyk, Ivan; Serednytska, Svitlana (March 2013). "Distribution of the subgenus Psyllophora (Degl.) Peterm. (Carex L.) in Ukraine". Biodiversity Research and Conservation. 29. De Gruyter: 35–42. doi:10.2478/biorc-2013-0009. eISSN 2080-945X. ISSN 1897-2810.
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