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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SEDGE FAMILY | |||||||||
| The sedge family is widespread around
the world, but these plants are usually found in damp habitats in subarctic
to temperate regions. The sedge family is very large, with approximately
5,315 species! There is a lot of variability within the family, but in general,
they are perennial herbs. The stems are solid and are frequently three sided.
The leaves are in three vertical rows. The basal sheath of the leaves is
closed. The leaves are linear and have the parallel venation typical of
the monocots. The inflorescences vary greatly among genera. In general,
flowers are in spikes or spikelets which are arranged into spikes, racemes,
panicles and umbrella-like clusters. In each spike there are bracts, usually
at least one per flower. The flowers are reduced, meaning that they do not
have obvious sepals and petals. The sepals and petals, if present, are often
in the form of bristles, scales or hairs. There are three stamens and two
or three carpels. The flowers may have both male and female parts or only
one of the two. In one of the largest genera, Carex, the ovary is enclosed
in a sac-like bract called the perigynium. The fruits are single-seeded,
lens-shaped or triangular structures called achenes. The sedges are an ecologically important family in Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan has 149 species belonging to the Cyperaceae. | |||||||||
| NECKLACE SEDGE | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Carex projecta | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Necklace sedge can be nearly a metre tall. The rootstocks are black. The stem is sharply triangular and is roughened on the angles. The inflorescence can look like a drooping string of beads, and sometimes the spikes are very close together. The female flowers are above the male flowers in the same spike. The spikes are nearly round and contain 15 to 30 perigynia. The female flower scales are shorter and narrower than the perigynia and are white to brown. The perigynia are strongly wing-margined. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Necklace sedge grows in wet prairies and moist, open woods. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in east-central Saskatchewan in the Mid-Boreal Lowland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Necklace sedge is endangered because it is extremely rare. It is limited to one very small region of the province. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY NECKLACE SEDGE | |||||||||
| * Does the inflorescence look like a string of
beads? * Do the spikes have the female flowers above the male flowers? * Are the perigynia wing-margined? * Did you find it in east-central Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found necklace sedge! | |||||||||
