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  4. Carex vulpinoidea

Carex vulpinoidea

Carex vulpinoidea. 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 vulpinoidea. 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 vulpinoidea. 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 vulpinoidea.<br>Photographer: Trevor James, Date taken: 18/01/2005, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Carex vulpinoidea.<br>Photographer: Trevor James, Date taken: 18/01/2005, Licence: All rights reserved. <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 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

Cyperaceae

Authority

Carex vulpinoidea Michaux

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.

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