Carex umbrosa

Shadow - sedge ( Carex umbrosa )

The shadow - sedge ( Carex umbrosa ) is a Central European scattered occurring member of the family of the Sedge family ( Cyperaceae ). It belongs to the Misc aged men sedges, in which the spikelets are designed differently. The upper or top almost always contain at only male flowers, while the lower or lower contain almost always female.

Appearance

The stiff upright growing herbaceous perennial plant usually reaches heights of growth between 20 and 50 cm. It grows in dense grass and has no offshoots. The stalk is often shorter than the later much elongated, flaccid leaves. These are grass green colored, stiff, and about 1.5 to 3 mm wide. At the edge, they are often rough to the foundation. The lowest leaf sheaths break up into many gray to blackish brown fibers, forming a dense fiber mop. The one or two male spikelets are tapered, from about 10 to 15 mm long and rounded at the top. The two to three female, 7 to 15 mm long spikelets standing close together and are short - cylindric shaped. At least the bottom is short-stalked. The entire inflorescence usually reaches a length of about 3 cm. The lowest bract is membranous, has a 4 to 10 mm long sheath and a short, rough leaf surface. The olive-brown bracts are obovate, more or less truncate and mucronate by the expiring green midrib. The 2 to 3 mm long fruit hoses are obovate, densely hairy and have a short, cylindrical beak.

The Shadow sedge blooms mainly in the months of April to June.

Shadow sedge ( inflorescence)

Shadow sedge ( inflorescence with fruit hoses )

Habitat requirements and distribution

Carex umbrosa grows in deciduous forests and bristle grass stands. She prefers fresh, lime-free, acidic and mostly loamy soils.

The species occurs from the Pyrenees in the west, across central Europe, northern Italy, the northern Balkans to Russia before. She is a moderate continental Florenelement.

In Germany, the shadow - sedge is mostly scattered in front of the central and southern area. However, in the northern lowlands missing. In Austria and Switzerland, they are found in all provinces or cantons scattered to rare.