Grasses and the rock garden

[James McGee]

Cohan,

     For learning sedges it is best to take a collection.  Just one stem (with mature fruits) broken off at the base (don't forget to include the sheath) should be sufficient.  Lightly press the specimen between some paper as it dries.  I know a 10 page key and 30 species seems daunting.  Take it one at a time and it won't seem too bad.  Just be glad you are not looking at Cronquist and Gleason, they have 230 Carex species for the Eastern US.
     Simple features like achene shape will help narrow down the possibilities quickly.  Achenes are either lenticular (lens shaped) or trigonous (with three angles).  If you key sedges you will get to add words like androgynous and gynaecanderous to your vocabulary.  This should impress botany friends.  Keying out sedges is a much more productive activity than watching TV when it is -40 F outside.

James

[cohan]

Cohan,

  Keying out sedges is a much more productive activity than watching TV when it is -40 F outside.

James

LOL--no doubt! but will require planning half a year ahead... The extreme number of species makes me wonder (not having gone through them yet to see what level of variation is actually there!) if the genus just needs a good clean-up, or whether there really are that many? I've been spending a lot of time in discussions of Haworthia lately ( a genus of South African succulents closely related to Aloe, for those not familiar) and there is a huge amount of debate from a moderate position of something like 60 species wherein many intergrade and the separations are very difficult, to an insane, out of control naming spree by some others having something like 600+ species-- every new population with a different look in an extremely variable group of plants is given species status  (to add to the fun, recent DNA studies have prompted a suggesting to re-sink Haworthia and a handful of other genera back into Aloe! Nevermind there isn't even agreement about what family these should all be in- Aloaceae, Asphodelaceae, Asparagaceae..) ahhh- Taxonomy!
I've been trying to capture characters needed to id some of my local Asteraceae... sedges will be another tougher project, still no headway on willows, etc etc...lol I'm learning tons along the way, even if I can't name everything yet (sometimes the result of a bit of knowledge is to make me unwilling to apply any names at all having realised just how much I do not know!)

[Hoy]

It is more than 100 species of Carex in Norway but I can only about 10 However, we never have -40F outside . . . . . .

[cohan]

However, we never have -40F outside . . . . . .

Well then, you will just never know

[Hoy]

However, we never have -40F outside . . . . . .

Well then, you will just never know

I meant we never have that cold here where I live but the all time record in Norway is -51.4^oC (-60.5F). The coldest I've experienced myself is -35^oC (-31F) and I have no immediate wish to break that record

[cohan]

Yes, but if you do not have that cold where you live, you will never have a chance to study the sedges...lol- I guess you could study them instead when wet weather keeps you indoors
We had at least -38C the other day, but still not quite -40C/F which we have not achieved this year so far!