| Author | Willdenow | |
| Distribution | Weakley (2018) splits this species into 3 varieties: var. digitalis - Mountains and upper Piedmont, var. floridana - outer Coastal Plain, and var. macropoda - Piedmont, low Mountains (rare), and Coastal Plain. This website has prepared maps and accounts of all three.
ME to WI south to FL and TX. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common to common in the Piedmont and Mountains; infrequent to locally fairly common in the lower Coastal Plain, but quite scarce in the inner Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | Mesic to dry-mesic hardwoods and mixed pine-hardwood forests. In a variety of forested habitats, typically in uplands, and not a wetland species. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting April-June. | |
| Identification | Carex digitalis is composed of three quite distinct, but probably intergrading, varieties. Variety digitalis can be separated by the leaflike bract of the uppermost female spike, which is longer than the terminal spike (vs. shorter in var. macropoda, but also longer in var. floridana) and shorter perigynia than var. floridana (2.5-3.3 mm vs. 3.2-4.2 mm). As the common name implies, the inflorescence is quite narrow/slender. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Carex digitalis is composed of three usually distinct, but probably intergrading, varieties. Not all specimens can be satisfactorally keyed out.
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) | Slender Wood Sedge | |
| State Rank | S4 [S5] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACU link |
| USACE-emp | UPL link |
