Carex norvegica Retz
Fl. Scandinav. Prodr. 179. 1779. Carex norvegica Retz subsp. inserrulata Kalela Ann. Bot. Soc. Zool.-Bot. Vanamo 19. 1944.
Carex halleri Gunn.
Carex vahlii Schkuhr.
Carex alpina Honck.
Carex mackenzie Krecz.
Nomenclatural section used by Flora of North America project subgenus Carex, sect. Atratae
Plants caespitose. Plants less than 15 cm high (Baffin Island), or more than 15 cm high (Greenland); 5–15(–35) cm high. Roots pallid-brown. Ground level or underground stems horizontal, or not developed horizontally or vertically; compact. Scales absent. Aerial stems erect (stiffly so); not filiform (0.6–1.3 mm in diameter); triangular in cross section (sharply so); glabrous. Leaves mostly basal. Sheaths greyish brown, or brown, or reddish. Ligules present. Blades straight; linear; flat, or revolute, or folded; not septate nodulose (but cell end walls sometimes prominent); hairy (scaberulous on midvein and margins).
Flowering stems about as high as the leaves, or conspicuously taller than the leaves. Leaf or reduced bract closely associated with the base of the inflorescence present; conspicuous and leaf-like, or reduced, or scale-like; exceeding the inflorescence, or similar in length to the inflorescence, or shorter than the apex of the inflorescence; 0.5–2 cm long; with sheath shorter than the blade. Inflorescence spicate; linear, or oblong, or obovate; 1–2 cm long; 5–10 mm wide. Pedicels smooth. Inflorescence multispicate; 3 spikes (usually, in a close cluster); lateral spikes sessile (superficially), or lateral spikes borne on pedicels (that are very short). Individual spike(s) erect, or ascending. Terminal spike staminate at the base (club-shaped). Cladoprophyll present at the base of the peduncle of lateral spikes. Staminate flowers inconspicuous. Floral scales shorter than the perigynium in fruit, or as long as the perigynium in fruit; brown, or black (tending to be monochrome); with margins, and sometimes mid-vein paler in colour than the adjacent area of the scale (midvein dark); obtuse; ovate; 1.8–2.3 mm long; 1.6–2 mm wide; glabrous. Perianth absent. Anthers 1.2–1.4 mm long. Styles slender, not extending beyond the beak, or slender, extending beyond the beak. Stigmas per style 3. Fruit surrounded by a perigynium. Perigynia fused to the apex except for a small aperture through which the style protrudes; broadly ovate, or obovate; 2.5–3 mm long; 1–1.4 mm wide; sessile; erect or ascending; black, or brown, or green; surface dull; glabrous; papillose; faintly nerved; apices beaked with a short beak; apex oblique, becoming slightly bidentate. Achenes filling the perigynia; trigonous.
Chromosome information. 2n = 56.
Distribution. Amphi-Atlantic. Low arctic (and Greenland). Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited. Uncommon. Arctic Islands: Baffin (southern), Southampton.
Ecology and habitat. Substrate wet meadows, along streams, tundra, slopes (and dry shelves); imperfectly drained, or dry; acidic (found on Precambrian acid rocks, Porsild 1957); with low organic content, or with high organic content, or peat. In wet meadows and along streams, it can be found with Carex membranacea, Luzula arctica, and Carex capillaris. On drier slopes it is typically found with grasses or Cladonia.
Notes. Polunin (1940) noted that except in height this species varies little if at all within the eastern Arctic.
Illustrations. • Close-up of inflorescence. Multispicate inflorescence with staminate flowers at the base of the terminal spike. Note that the margins and midvein of the floral scales are paler than the adjacent area. • Arctic Island distribution.
Cite this publication as: Aiken, S.G., Boles, R.L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1999 onwards. ‘Cyperaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval.’ Version: 6th November 2000. http://http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).
