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  4. Carex astonii

Carex astonii

The Bowery, Waiouru army training area, Sept 1990.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
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Common names

Aston’s sedge

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Sedges

Detailed description

Small, reddish, tufted sedge. Mature culms 100-200 mm, smooth, terete, basal sheaths grey-brown or light-brown. Leaves > culms, up to 350 mm long × 0.7–1.2 mm wide, plano or concavo-convex, reddish, margins scabrid, apex curled (cirrhose). Inflorescence of 4–6 sessile spikes, lower most distant, upper approximate; terminal spike male, rest female, these usually with male flowers at the base. Spikes 5–10–(150) × 3–5 mm, ovate or cylindrical. Glumes ≤ utricles, broadly ovate or oblong, pale brown with light red markings, emarginate, green midrib forming a short scabrid awn < 0.5 (rarely 1 mm) long. Utricles 2 × 1–1.3 mm, ovoid to rhomboid, usually trigonous, yellowish and red near tip, glossy, faintly ribbed, beak minute, black or red-brown, smooth, crura entire or bidentate, scabrid. Stigmas 3. Nut 1 × 1 mm, elliptic-obovoid, trigonous, cream to dark brown.

Similar taxa

Carex druceana Hamlin (var. druceana in Flora of N.Z. Vol. II) has wider leaves, close packed spikelets (lower most rarely distant), glumes with awns up to 2 mm long, and utricles 2.5 × 1.3–1.5 mm. Both C. astonii and C. druceana resemble C. petriei in that they possess reddish, cirrhose-tipped leaves but both species lack the distinctive wide sheaths of C. petriei. Leaves of C. petriei are more rigid, the glumes more membranous, and the utricles are black except on the beak and stipe.

Distribution

Endemic to the North Island, where it is apparently only known from the Kaimanawa and Ruahine Ranges.

Habitat

Montane, subalpine to alpine river terraces, back swamps and on the margins of mires.

Current conservation status

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2023 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR, Sp

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Threats

Rather local in its occurrences. Many of the habitats it was once recorded from in the 1950s and 1960s are now occupied by taller, faster growing weeds.

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Cyperaceae

Authority

Carex astonii Hamlin

Synonyms

Carex druceana var. astonii (Hamlin) Edgar

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

No information available

Fruiting

No information available

Life cycle and dispersal

Nuts surrounded by inflated utricles are dispersed by granivory and wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Easy from fresh seed and the division of whole plants. Prefers moist soils, with a sunny aspect, free from weeds.

Other information

Etymology

carex: Latin name for a species of sedge, now applied to the whole group.

astonii: After Aston

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

CRXAST

Chromosome number

2n = c.60

Previous conservation statuses

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, RR, Sp

2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR, Sp

2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP

2004 | Gradual Decline

Jump to current conservation status

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Moore LB, Edgar E. 1970. Flora of New Zealand, Volume II. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Monocotyledones except Gramineae. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 354 p.

Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309.

Attribution

Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1970).

Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.

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