Carex-alba_1

Description :

Carex alba Scopoli, syn.: Carex ajanensis Vorosch, Carex inclusa Turcz.ex Boott, Carex argentea J.F. Gmel.White Sedge, DE: Weie SeggeSlo.: beli aDat.: May 24. 2011Lat.: 46.36070 Long.: 13.70105Code: Bot_516/2011_DSC7813 Habitat: upper, west edge of an alpine pasture surrounded by mixed wood (Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies, Ostrya carpinifolia dominant trees), spreading also somewhat into the wood; slightly inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect; calcareous, colluvial, skeletal ground; mostly in shade; dry and relatively warm place; elevation 630 m (2.070 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta, Na Melu place, near cottage Trenta 2b, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC. Comment: Carex alba is a beautiful sedge and relatively easy to recognized among very numerous taxa in the genus Carex. In the uppermost elongated inflorescence, the flowers at the bottom are male. All others above them and on all other inflorescences lower on the flower stalk are female. These pictures show its habit when it is in fruit but in not yet fully ripe state. When fully developed, perigynia (female flower fruits) become shiny dark brown, almost black. In the spring, when in bloom, the plants look quite differently having dominant whitish looking inflorescences. Hence its species name in several languages namely 'white'. It is an evergreen plant, many times forming freshly green, soft mats of considerable size.It can be found in most of European countries, however, mitigating most southern and most northern ones. To the east it is spread to Russian Far East regions.Ref.:(1) J. Koopman, Carex Europaea, The genus Carex L. (Cyperaceae) in Europa,1, Margraf Publ. (2011), p 38 and p 582.(2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 1119.(3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 810. (4) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 818.