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  4. Carex subdola

Carex subdola

Howarth wetland, Te Aroha.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Carex subdola.<br>Photographer: Bec Stanley, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
In cultivation.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/10/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
In cultivation.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/10/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
In cultivation.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/10/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Howarth wetland, Te Aroha.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Howarth wetland, Te Aroha.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

sedge

Synonyms

None

Family

Cyperaceae

Authority

Carex subdola Boott

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Sedges

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.

CARSUB

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.

2012 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North and South Islands from Awanui south to Nelson and Marlborough.

Habitat

Coastal to lowland in freshwater wetlands, under willow in gully systems, along river and stream banks, lake margins, and in damp seepages, pond margins and clearings within forest. Preferring fertile to mid-fertile wetlands.

Features

Rhizomatous, bright green to somewhat glaucescent sedge forming rather rigid erect tufts. Rhizome 2-4 mm diameter, hard, woody. Culms 80-600 × 1.0-2.5 mm, trigonous, lightly scabrid below inflorescence; basal sheaths light brown, grey-brown or reddish brown. Leaves numerous, > culms, 2-4 mm wide, double-folded, ± erect, keel and margins of lamina sharply scabrid. Spikes 4-8, pedunculate, all ± approximate or the lowest more distant, terminal (1-)2(-3) spikes male, the remainder female, often male at the tip, 30-75 × 4-7 mm, lower spikes often with 1–2 secondary spikes at the base. Glumes < or ± = utricles, ovate-oblong, emarginate with a strongly scabrid awn to 6 mm long, dark red-brown, coriaceous; midrib broad, 3-nerved, green to later light brown. Utricles 3.0-4.5 × 2.0-2.5 mm, biconvex, rather compressed, ovoid, usually cinnamon-brown, with many distinct nerves on each face, smooth, tapering gradually towards the short beak, < 0.5 mm long, orifice entire, slightly bidentate, occasionally faintly scabrid; stipe slightly < 0.5 mm long. Stigmas 2. Nut 1.5–2 mm long, plano-convex, oblong or ovoid, brown

Similar taxa

Carex subdola can be confused with C. sinclairii. From that species it is best distinguished by the colour of the mature utricles; those of C. subdola are bright cinnamon-brown, and those of C. sinclairii are yellow-brown to dark brown. Smaller specimens of C. sinclairii have glumes without awns, or scarcely awned, and obovoid utricles with only 2–5 prominent nerves, but larger plants have longer awns in some of the glumes and the utricles are ovoid and tapering with nerves as is more usual in C. subdola

Flowering

September - November

Fruiting

October - April

Life cycle

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

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed and by the division of established plants. Although a wetland species C. subdola will grow in most soils and moisture regimes. However, this species does best when grown in permanently damp conditions.

Etymology

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

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange (10 August 2006). Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1970)

References and further reading

Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. II. Government Printer, Wellington.

Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 2009 Vol. 11 No. 4 pp. 285-309

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Carex subdola Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/carex-subdola/ (Date website was queried)

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