Water sedge in winter

Description:

As has also been reported for the species in the artic, Carex aquatilis var. aquatils is remarkably showing above-ground (ice level here) green culm growth consistently of some 8 cm to 10 cm during winter months. This winter season has produced many cold nights and ample snowfall. This is a very restricted population growing in roughly a 50 sq. meter area in shallow water at the edge of a pond, consisting of 150 to 200 plants. The species was first noticed here in 2015. This is a valley, not midmontane or higher, location. All of the floras of the Intermountain West and also in Arizona reference occurrences of this species only at much higher elevations; but in fact it has been known historically in our area from valley locations as low or lower than this one, a fact that has to date been missed by local taxonomists.Whether this particular location involves introduced plants is subject to speculation. On the one hand, the pond is manmade and some large rocks were moved in around it when it was constructed, and some seed could have accidentally been introduced. There are however no records indicating it was intentionally planted. And, this is in an abandoned channel of Big Cottonwood Creek, and there are nearby springs and at least some natural freshwater marsh areas, and given the types of species that occur here and have been found to date, it is possible that it is a native survivor.January 30, 2016, Salt Lake County, Utah, elev. 4,330 ft. (1,320 m).