Campus is deserted and it feels slightly pointless telling you this when you're not here. But on my lunchtime wanderings I found two lovely sedges today which I'm eager to share. My walk took me along the little drainage ditch near the tall student residence blocks. It turned out to be wider than I thought and I got a shoeful of water. Facilities have let swathes of grasses and emergent plants grow along it and it feels rather nice and wild.
These are common species but I hope you will agree, lovely. This is
Carex otrubae, False fox sedge.
It has very three-angled stems in typical sedge style. All the male and female flowers are together, so the chunky spikelets (the groups of flowers) all look the same.
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| CC BY-NC-SA Rhiannon |
Here you can see the utricles (the nutlike fruits) in closeup - in this species they're greeny-brown.
But for something a little more striking you want the other Carex I found - Common sedge, or
Carex nigra.
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| CC BY-NC-SA Rhiannon. You too can borrow this super microscope camera. |
If the super stripey utricles on this don't convert you to the cult of sedges, then nothing will. (I won't be offended, honestly, but what's not to like). There's another species called Carnation sedge which is said to have tempting-sounding fat 'chocolate and lime' fruits. But I think these nice flattened green and black fruits are even better.
The arrangement of the flowers is different in this species - the fluffier male flowers are all in a bunch and the top, and there are several all-female utricled inflorescences below.
I also found a 'Spike rush' (Eleocharis - they were everywhere, I had no idea) and a Rush. You need to be able to visit a variety of soils and habitats, but I think Sedges and friends would make a very nice if unusual collection. It's not one of the usual choices so I'd send Katy a message first if you choose it.
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