BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Carex capitata | Capitate Sedge 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Capitate sedge is a native, perennial, monoecious graminoid [8,10].  It
is loosely to densely caespitose [8,11].  Culms are 4 to 14 inches
(10-35 cm) tall [1,10].  Leaves are one to four per culm [8] and 0.02
inches (0.5 mm) wide or less [1,14,18].  The first foliage leaves arise
well above the base of the plant [10].  The inflorescence is a solitary
terminal spike [10] 0.16 to 0.39 inches (4-10 mm) long [8,14].  The
achene is 0.06 inches (1.5 mm) long [8].  The perigynia surrounding the
achene is ovate and 0.08 to 0.12 inches (2-3 mm) long [1,14].  There are
6 to 25 pergynia per spike [7,9].  Capitate sedge has short creeping
rhizomes [8] on which the culms are closely spaced [23].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Capitate sedge sprouts from perennating buds at the base of the culms
and from rhizomes [10].  It also reproduces by seed [8].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Capitate sedge is found in arctic and alpine environments [10] on marshy
meadows to dry alpine slopes [14,23].  It grows on acidic rocky,
gravelly [7], sandy [15], or peaty [5] soils.

In the alpine zone of the eastern Cascade Range in southern interior
British Columbia capitate sedge is dominant where the soil is strongly
acid (pH 4.9-5.3) and coarse textured, with loamy sand predominating
[15].  In the alpine zone of Mt. Baker, Washington, capitate sedge only
grew in the drier eastern region, on sites with the least snow
accumulation.  However, the soils there remained moist well into summmer
because of drainage from upslope [3].

Capitate sedge is found at the following elevations:

                Elevation (feet)     Elevation (m)

     AK              0- 3,281             0-1,000    [11]
     CA          6,234-12,900         1,900-3,932    [9,14]
     WA          7,546- 8,038         2,300-2,450    [3]
     BC          2,402- 2,500           732-  762    [16]


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Capitate sedge is dominant on some sites [15].  It is probably a climax
species in some places, but no specific information was found on its
successional status.


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Capitate sedge blooms from July 1 to August 30 in New England [18] and
from late June to August in adjacent Canada [5].

Capitate sedge showed little phenological variation due to aspect in the
alpine zone of the eastern Cascade Range in southern interior British
Columbia.  Snow had melted from the site by the third week of June in
1980.  Capitate sedge broke dormancy the last week of June and grew
vegetatively until the first week of July.  At that time it began to
flower, and continued to do so until the second week of August (except
at one site, where flowering ended August 3).  It set fruit until the
first week of September, and dispersed seed after that time [16].

Related categories for Species: Carex capitata | Capitate Sedge