Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Blue Ridge Brome Sedge - Carex bromoides ssp. montana   Naczi
Members of Cyperaceae:
Members of Carex with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 5 » Order Cyperales » Family Cyperaceae
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AuthorNaczi
DistributionMountains and western Piedmont, at higher elevations than ssp. bromoides. Shortly disjunct to Rockingham County.

Endemic to southwestern VA, western NC, northwestern SC.
AbundanceFrequent. Plants usually are scattered in suitable habitat, sometimes locally common. Despite this, the NCNHP has it as a Watch List taxon.
HabitatMontane seepage bogs and seepage areas in forests. Habitats not well known; need more information.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting June-July.
IdentificationOnce learned, the straw or tan color of the spikes and the leaning or lazy stems of C. bromoides var. montana are helpful characters. The perigynia are narrowly lance-shaped (0.8-1.3 mm wide) with a beak 1.2-2.2 mm long. Subspecies bromoides can be told from ssp. montana mainly by its narrower leaf blades (1.3-3 mm vs. 2.8-4.4 in montana).
Taxonomic CommentsDescribed as a new subspecies in 1990.

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)
State RankS2S3
Global RankG5T3?
State StatusW7 [W1]
US Status
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USACE-emp
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