Carex albida
Carex albida is a California native, extremely rare Seggenart ( Carex ). It is a different eared sedge.
Features
Carex albida is a perennial plant with short rhizomes. It reaches heights of growth of 40 to 60 cm. The leaves are 3 to 6 mm wide.
The inflorescences are about 15 cm high, the lowest internode is 10 to 25 cm high. The terminal spikelet is male, at least at the top. The lateral spikelets are female, at least in the lower part. The spikelets are sometimes more than 15 mm long, and usually stalked less than 1 cm long. The husk of the lowermost spikelet is shorter than all the inflorescence and has a long sheath.
The bracts of the female flowers are white with green midrib.
The fruit is from 3.1 to 4.5 mm long, from 1 to 1.6 mm wide, and green. The beak is 0.6 to 1.2 mm long and white, often ciliate.
Distribution, location and risk
Carex albida occurs only in Sonoma County of the State of California. It is known only from the Pitkin Marsh that are located in the southern Outer North Coast Ranges. It grows here subsp along with other endangered plants such as Lilium pardalinum. pitkinense.
Carex albida was first described in 1889 by Liberty Hyde Bailey means of a copy that John Bigelow had in 1854 collected at the Santa Rosa Creek in Sonoma County. John T. Howell and John W. Stacey described the way in 1937 under the name Carex sonomensis again, Howell realized, however, that it is the same way.
The species was long thought to be extinct until 1987, a single population was discovered. Historically, it was known from four other locations, the type locality on Santa Rosa Creek and three other locations in two swamps, all located in Sonoma County. The sump at the Santa Rosa Creek was destroyed in the 1960s. Another swamp was loaded with a cannery wastewater. In the third swamp one of the two historic populations has not been observed since 1951. The second is located on private property and has not been observed since 1976. Due to changes in hydrology no longer exists in this population may be.
The only known location in the Pitkin Marsh is a sphagnum bog in 45 to 60 m above sea level. The population consists of approximately 1000 plants and is located on private property. The species is endangered by possible changes in the water balance of the swamp, and by changing the land use, through a planned wastewater treatment project, through the nearby State Highway and also by random events.
Documents
- Carex albida in the Jepson Manual, 27. accessed April 2008. ( Features )
- Fish and Wildlife Service: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for Nine Plants From the Grasslands or Mesic Areas of the Central Coast of California, Federal Register: October 22, 1997 ( Volume 62, Number 204) (online), accessed 27. April 2008.