Carex spissa
Encyclopedia
Carex spissa is a species of sedge
known by the common name San Diego sedge. It is native to the southwestern United States and far northern Mexico, where it grows in wet places, sometimes on serpentine soil
s. This sedge looks somewhat like a cattail
. It produces angled stems easily exceeding a meter in height surrounded by leathery green to reddish leaves up to about 1.2 meters long. The inflorescence
is up to 80 centimeters long, with many long reddish brown flower spikes, each holding up to 300 developing fruits.
Carex
Carex is a genus of plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges. Other members of the Cyperaceae family are also called sedges, however those of genus Carex may be called "true" sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of Carex is known as...
known by the common name San Diego sedge. It is native to the southwestern United States and far northern Mexico, where it grows in wet places, sometimes on serpentine soil
Serpentine soil
A serpentine soil is derived from ultramafic rocks, in particular serpentinite, a rock formed by the hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle....
s. This sedge looks somewhat like a cattail
Typha
Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats...
. It produces angled stems easily exceeding a meter in height surrounded by leathery green to reddish leaves up to about 1.2 meters long. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is up to 80 centimeters long, with many long reddish brown flower spikes, each holding up to 300 developing fruits.