| Author | Britton | |
| Distribution | Strictly the Mountains. To date, specimens have been collected from Jackson and Swain Counties; reported from Yancey County.
VT to Sask. south to NC, KY, MO, and KS. | |
| Abundance | Very rare; two counties with specimens -- both historical, but a CVS plot record from 2009 in Yancey County -- if correctly identified. This is a State Special Concern species. | |
| Habitat | Wet grassy balds, middle to high elevation upland meadows -- typically over calcareous material, though in NC these sites are probably not in high pH soil. The habitats for NC differ greatly from those in the VA mountains, which are mostly in flat ground of fens and wet meadows. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting May-July. | |
| Identification | Crested Sedge is a member of the Ovales section, and so care must be taken when identifying. At a short distance, the spikes appear rounded or globular, and prickly all around, due to projecting beaks of perigynia. The inflorescence is dense towards the tip, but semi-open towards the base. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
The genus Carex is the largest in North America, and among the largest in the world. In temperate and boreal regions, Carex is often the dominant or co-dominant ground layer in many habitats. Seeds (achenes) are valuable food for birds and small mammals, while foliage is used by birds and mammals to make nests and as food by mammals. Species of Carex often look vastly different from one another -- spikes erect vs. drooping, tiny inflorescence vs. whopping, culms leafy vs. naked, perigynia beaked vs. beakless, stems densely bunched vs. single, etc. The genus has been divided into many sections (or groups), based on shared characters; some taxonomists have suggested that these be different genera, but that proves unworkable (so far). All Carex share the feature of a perigynium (an outer covering) which completely surrounds the achene (seed). This covering may fit tightly or loosely (like a small bladder), depending on which group or species. Details of perigynia shape, ornamentation, presence and size of beak, number of striations (or veins) are all important ID features. In recent years Rob Naczi and colleagues have stressed the importance of arrangement of perigynia -- whether spiral (3+ ranks) or distichous (2-ranked) -- and have named a number of new species as well as split off some older synonyms. Therefore, RAB's (1968) key, excellent for its time, can only be used in a general way today. Members of some sections of Carex are difficult to key out (notably Ovales, Laxiflorae, Griseae); this is in part due to variation among individuals of a species, or failings of the key. FNA has drawings of most species and some species may be found in two or more places within a key, to acount for variability. New species to NC, and new to science(!), continue to be found in NC. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Crested Oval Sedge | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | SC-V | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FAC link |
| USACE-emp | FACW link |
