Carex geyeri
Elk Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae (Sedge family)

Photo taken near Leavenworth Ski Hill, dry openly wooded area in partial shade

Flowers:

one spikelet per inflorescence; lower pistillate flower bracts green, short-awned, and greater than the perigynium

Fruit:

1 to 3 perigynia per spikelet, appressed to ascending, 4.9 to 7 mm long, 1.7 to 2.5 mm wide, green with a bristle-like axis within

Leaves:

1.5 to 3.5 mm wide, flat or folded

Plant:

growing in clumps connected by rhizomes, 10 to 40 cm tall

Habitat:

open forests and dry slopes, foothills to middle elevations in the mountains

Distribution of species:

western Canada to northern California, east to Colorado and Utah

Distribution of genus:

more or less 3600 species: worldwide