 Photo ©
Carl Farmer |
Common in wet ground at all altitudes, especially on moorland, but occurs in a wide variety of soil types. Stems c 10-40 cm tall. Female spikes c 10-20 mm long. Fruit c 2.5-3 mm. Skye ID: Female spikes strikingly black in flower, giving a black and green chequered effect when in fruit. Many of the stems will have two male spikes, the second usually much smaller than the main one, alongside it and hard to spot. Lowest bract nearly as long as, or often longer than, inflorescence. Stem three-cornered but edges rounded. Only likely to be confused with Stiff Sedge, but that has nearly always just one male spike, lowest bract well short of inflorescence and stem edges sharply angled. Told from Glaucous Sedge in flower by having only 2 stigmas, and in fruit by the fruit being narrow in side view, very two-sided, with one side more or less flat and the other convex. Also the glumes of Glaucous Sedge are not jet black as in this species. Other features: Female spikes normally 2-3, unstalked or the lower ones with short stalks. Leaves often glaucous, sometimes on one side only. Often found with Marsh Horsetail dominating a wet patch of ground. |
