Earth sedge

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Earth sedge
Earth sedge (Carex humilis)

Earth sedge ( Carex humilis )

Systematics
Monocots
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sourgrass family (Cyperaceae)
Genre : Sedges ( Carex )
Type : Earth sedge
Scientific name
Carex humilis
Leyss.

The earth sedge ( Carex humilis ), also called dwarf sedge or low sedge, is a type of plant from the genus Sedges ( Carex ) within the sour grass family (Cyperaceae).

description

Habit and inflorescences
Fruit cluster

The earth sedge is a perennial, herbaceous plant and forms dense clumps . The upright stalks reach heights of 5 to 15 centimeters and are slightly triangular. The basal leaves with purple leaf sheaths are 10 to 25 inches long and about one millimeter wide. They are usually rolled up like bristles, rigid and gray or light green in color.

The flowering period extends from April to May. The male russet-white-spotted spikelet is terminal and over 1 centimeter long. Underneath, often over 2 centimeters away, there are two to three shiny brown-silver female spikelets with two to four flowers. The slightly red-brown, glossy bracts are often over an inch long.

The obovate, triangular fruit sacs are up to 3 millimeters long and are about as long as the rounded, often spiky, broad-skinned husks .

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36.

ecology

The earth sedge is unusually rooted up to 40 centimeters deep; this can be interpreted as an adaptation to their dry location.

The hoses of the earth sedge, and with them the ripe fruits, are spread out by ants .

Occurrence

The earth sedge is widespread in the warm regions of Eurasia , especially in southern and southeastern Europe. In the lowlands of Central Europe it occurs only sporadically, or it is absent almost everywhere; in the low mountain ranges with limestone it is rare, but it forms smaller stands at its locations. It rises in the Alps to altitudes of around 1500 meters, but it is rare there. In the Allgäu Alps, it rises in the Tyrolean part between Klimm and Klimmspitze up to 1500 meters above sea level. It is absent in the silicate regions of Central Europe. In Germany it occurs scattered from the lowlands to the foothills of the Alps , and is rare towards the north and northeast. In Austria it occurs frequently in the Pannonian region , otherwise scattered to rarely.

In Central Europe, in a sunny location, it populates mainly dry, warm grasslands, steppes, light and sparse dry grasslands , light pine forests and bushes. The earth sedge thrives best on warm, dry, alkaline and calcareous fine soil . It occurs in societies of the Festuco-Brometea class, but also in those of the order Quercetalia pubescentis or the Erico-Pinion association.

Taxonomy and systematics

Carex humilis was first published by Friedrich Wilhelm von Leysser . The specific epithet humilis means "on earth" and refers to the low stalk.

One can distinguish the following varieties:

  • Carex humilis var. Humilis : It occurs from Europe to Iran and Japan.
  • Carex humilis var. Scirrobasis (Kitag.) YLChang & YLYang : It occurs in the Chinese provinces of Hebei , Liaoning and Shanxi at altitudes between 100 and 1000 meters above sea level.

literature

  • Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: Our grasses. Sweet grasses, sour grasses, rushes . 11th edition. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07613-X .
  • Manfred A. Fischer, Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp. 186 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe . 2nd Edition. tape 5 : Swan flowers to duckweed plants . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .
  3. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 266.
  4. ↑ a b Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Carex humilis. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  5. ↑ Lun-Kai Dai, Prof. Song-Yun Liang, Shuren Zhang, Yancheng Tang, Tetsuo Koyama & Gordon C. Tucker: Carex Linnaeus. [1]

Web links

Commons : Earth Sedge ( Carex humilis )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files