Carex crispa
Common names
bastard grass, hook sedge
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Sedges
Detailed description
Tufted, bright-green to yellow-green plants. Culms 100–300 × c. 0.5 mm, subtrigonous or terete, glabrous; basal bracts dull brown. Leaves 4–7 per culm, < culms, c. 1 mm wide, ± stiff, involute, or flatter and up to 1.5 mm wide, bright green, usually curled at the tips, faintly scabrid on margins and adaxial surface towards leaf-tip. Spikes 30–55 × 2–5 mm, occasionally bracteate, female flowers 6–20, rather close-set, internodes 1–3 mm long. Glumes much > utricles at base of spike, = utricles above, deciduous, ovate, acute or acuminate, membranous, light brown with a green to brown midrib. Utricles 4.0–5.0 × 1.0–1.5 mm, trigonous, ovate, widely spreading when ripe, green to light brown, shining, the lateral nerve always prominent, otherwise smooth or faintly nerved, contracted below to a conspicuous stipe slightly > 1.0 mm long, slightly tapered above to a beak c. 1 mm long
Similar taxa
Carex crispa is easily recognised by the leaves which have twisted/curled apices (cirrhose) and are involute (incurved) and by the glossy utricles. It is perhaps most similar to Carex astricta K.A.Ford which has flat or v-shaped, non cirrhose leaf apices, and dull utricles.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North (Mt Egmont and Ruahine Range), South (North-West Nelson, Mt Arthur, Nelson, Otago and Fiordland) and Stewart Islands.
Habitat
Upper montane, subalpine to alpine. In grassland or scrub, very rarely in open forest.
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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- 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 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Cyperaceae
Synonyms
Uncinia involuta Hamlin
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
October–December
Fruiting
November–March
Propagation technique
Very easy from divisions of whole plants and from seed. Does best when planted in full sun in a fertile, free draining but moist soil. Excellent in pots.
Other information
Where To Buy
Not Commercially Available
Etymology
carex: Latin name for a species of sedge, now applied to the whole group.
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.
CARCRI
Chromosome number
2n = 88
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
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.
Attribution
Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1970). Fact sheet prepared by Peter J. de Lange 17 August 2006.
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.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Carex crispa Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/carex-crispa/ (Date website was queried)