| Author | Schkuhr ex Willdenow | |
| Distribution | Mountains in the northwestern corner of the state. NCNHP lists Iredell County, but the specimen (at NCSC) is actually C. styloflexa.
Newf. to Man. south to northwestern NC, MO, and AR. | |
| Abundance | Very rare, with only 2 known sites, one each in Ashe and Alleghany counties, and both still extant. The Ashe County site (Bluff Mountain) has a good population, but the other was a collection (2009) with no information on population size. This is a State Threatened species. | |
| Habitat | Sunny fens and wet meadows, usually in calcareous or mafic soils. These are very exacting conditions, with only a tiny amount of acreage present in the state's mountains. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting May-June. | |
| Identification | C. conoidea belongs to the Section Griseae, which all require care and mature achenes to identify. It lacks red or red-purple coloring to the base of the plant, leaves and stems are not glaucous nor strongly glaucescent, and the stalks of the female spikes are rough with minute stiff bristles (contra C. amphibola and C. impressinervia). Of course, the specialized habitat may be quite useful in separation of this rare species from the others, which are both found in bottomlands or other floodplain forests (as opposed to sunny fens and mafic wet meadows). | |
| 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) | None | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | T | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | FACU link |
