Carex vulpinoidea
Common names
fox sedge
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Sedges
Simplified description
Dense yellow-green grass-like clumps, up to 80 cm tall, leaves and stems harsh to the touch, with distinctive green to orange-brown ‘bird-seed’ millet like heads.
Flower colours
Brown, Green
Detailed description
Dense stiff clumps, 50–80 cm tall. Stems firm, erect, sharply 3-angled, harshly scabrid on angles just below inflorescence. Leaves usually > stems, 2–5 mm wide, ± flat, strongly scabrid; sheaths long, membranous, transversely-rugulose for 2–4 cm below mouth. Inflorescence a very dense, ± cylindrical, ± lobed, spiciform panicle 6–10 × ± 1 cm, green to light brown. Spikes numerous, sessile, very crowded above, lower ones more distant with setaceous bracts < inflorescence, male flowers at top of spikes, female flowers densely crowded. Glumes much < utricles, ovate with far excurrent midrib. Utricles 2–2.5 × 1.5 mm, ovate, plano-convex, faintly nerved on convex face, tapering to a narrow bifid beak ± 1 mm long with sparsely scabrid margins. Stigmas 2. Nut almost spherical, biconvex.
Similar taxa
Only Carex with lobed bristly inflorescence.
Distribution
Scattered and locally common in Northern North Island to the central volcanic plateau, also Tasman and Westland, rare elsewhere.
Habitat
Wet pasture and swampy waste places.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
Late spring to early summer
Fruiting
Summer to autumn
Year naturalised
1940
Origin
North and South America
Control techniques
Not controlled in New Zealand.
Life cycle and dispersal
Seed dispersed by contaminated machinery or waterfowl.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
OBL: Obligate Wetland
Almost always is a hydrophyte, rarely in uplands (non-wetlands).
Other information
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.
CARVUL
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Healy AJ, Edgar E. 1980. Flora of New Zealand, Volume III. Adventive Cyperaceous, Petalous and Spathaceous Monocotyledons. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 220 p.
Johnson PN, Brooke PA. 1989. Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington, NZ. 319 p.
Champion P. et al. 2020. Freshwater Invasive Species of New Zealand 2020. NIWA publication. https://docs.niwa.co.nz/library/public/FreInSpec.pdf
Attribution
Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Features description from Healy and Edgar (1980).
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.