525.000 Carex L.

Description of the genus

Perennial herbs. Culms triangular or rarely rounded. Leaves with prominent long leaf sheaths. Inflorescence usually composed of several cylindric spikes but (in spicato-paniculata) consisting of 1-2 pyramidal panicles arising from upper leaf sheaths. Flowers unisexual, in unisexual or bisexual spikes. In this genus, in addition to the normal glume subtending the flower, the female flowers are enclosed within a utricle, which is beaked above and broad below and hence shaped something like a bottle. Ovary with 2-3 stigmas protruding from the beak at the tip of the utricle. Male flowers with usually 3 stamens.

Worldwide: c. 2000 species, cosmopolitan but mainly in temperate cold regions

Zimbabwe: 11 taxa.

Links to taxa: View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

Species	FZ divisions	Content
cognata Kunth var. cognata	N,C,E
cognata Kunth var. drakensbergensis (C.B. Clarke) Kük.	E
echinochloe Kunze subsp. nyasensis (C.B.Clarke) Lye	E
lycurus K. Schum.	E
macrophyllidion Nelmes	E	Description, Image
petitiana A. Rich.	E	Description, Image
rhodesiaca Nelmes	C	Image
sp.no.1 (Phipps 1112)	E
spicato-paniculata C.B.Clarke	N,W,C,E,S	Description, Image
tricholepis Nelmes	N
zuluensis C.B. Clarke	E

Other sources of information about Carex:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Carex
Flora of Burundi: Carex
Flora of Malawi: Carex
Flora of Mozambique: Carex
Flora of Zambia: Carex

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Carex
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Carex
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Carex
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Carex
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Carex
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Carex
JSTOR Plant Science: Carex
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Carex
Plants of the World Online: Carex
Tropicos: Carex
Wikipedia: Carex