Carex austrina Mack.

Plants without conspicuous rhizomes. Culms 20–90 cm, 1.5–3 mm wide basally, 0.9–1.1 mm wide distally. Leaves: sheaths tight, green, fronts hyaline, yellowish and thickened at mouth; ligules to 3 mm, as long as wide; widest leaf blades 2.5–4.5 mm wide, sometimes papillose adaxially. Inflorescences with (3–)5–10 spikes, 1.5–3.5 cm × 8–15 mm; proximal internodes equaling or shorter than proximal spikes; proximal bracts 1–5 cm; spikes with 8–20 ascending or spreading perigynia. Pistillate scales hyaline or brown with green, 3-veined center, ovate, (2.4–)3–4.3 × (1–)1.6–3 mm, body slightly shorter to longer than perigynium and as wide, apex awned to 1.5–3.5(–4) mm. Anthers 2.2–2.5 mm. Perigynia pale green, pale yellow, or pale brown, 9–15-veined abaxially, 3.5–5 × 2.2–3 mm, margins serrulate distally; beak 0.8–1.2 mm, apical teeth 0.4–0.6 mm. Achenes suborbiculate, 1.9–2.5 × 1.5–2 mm.

Ala., Ark., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Miss., Mo., Nebr., Okla., Tenn., Tex.

Fruiting late spring–early summer.

Dry prairies, forests, roadside ditches, often in calcareous soils; 100–500m.

Carex muehlenbergii Schkuhr ex Willdenow var. australis Olney ex L. H. Bailey, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 22: 141. 1886

Carex austrina (vSmall) Mackenzie, Bull. Torrey Club 34: 151. 1907.
Carex Muhlenbergii var. australis Olney ; (E. Hall, PI. Tex. 25, name only. 1873) L. H. Bailey, Proc.
Am. Acad. 22: 141. 1886. (Type from Texas.) Not C. australis Kirk, 1894. Carex Muhlenbergii var. austrina Small, Fl. SE. U.S. 218. 1903. (Based on C. Muhlenbergii
var. australis Olney.)
Cespitose, from lignescent, very short-prolonged, dark, fibrillose rootstocks, the culms erect, 2-9 dm. high, usually low, slender but stiff, sharply triangular, more or less roughened above, leafy on lower fourth, usually noticeably exceeding the leaves, light-brownish at base; leaves with well-developed blades 3-8 to a culm, the blades ascending, usually 1-3 dm. long, 2.5-4 (rarely 4.5) mm. wide, thickish, light-green, flat or slightly channeled at base, longtapering, glabrous, but roughened towards the apex and on the margins, the sheaths tight, not septate-nodulose nor cross-rugulose, concave and slightly thickened at mouth, the ligule very short, about as wide as long; spikes 5-10, androgynous, densely aggregated in an oblong terminal head 1.5-3.5 cm. long, 8-15 mm. thick, the lower 2-4 well defined and distinguishable, each spike bearing the few inconspicuous staminate flowers above and the 8-20 appressedascending, or in age somewhat spreading-ascending perigynia below, the staminate scales ovate-lanceolate, cuspidate; lower bracts or all 1-5 cm. long, dilated and much nerved at the base, long-cuspidate and conspicuous, the upper scale-like; scales broadly ovate, greenish or whitish-hyaline with strongly 3-nerved green center, strongly awned, about as wide as and largely covering the perigynia, conspicuous; perigynia plano-convex, ovate or suborbicular, 3.5-4 mm. long, 2.5-3 mm. wide, broadest below middle, flat, and without raised margins ventrally, sharp-edged to base and serrulate above middle, light-greenish, submembranaceous, substipitate, rounded but scarcely spongy at base, nerveless or nearly so ventrally, strongly several-nerved dorsally, abruptly narrowed into a serrulate beak one third to one fourth the length of the body, bidentate, the teeth subulate-triangular, hyaline within, both sutures conspicuous; achenes lenticular, suborbicular, 2.25-2.5 mm. long, 2 mm. wide, filling body of perigynium, abruptly short-stipitate, very short-apiculate ; style short, slender, enlarged at base, jointed with achene; stigmas two, reddish-brown, slender, long.
TyPE LOCALITY (of C. Muhlenbergii var. australis Olney, on which C austrina is based) : Houston, Texas (.Hall).
Distribution: Dry sunny places in calcareous districts, Missouri and eastern Kansas to Arkansas and Texas. (Specimens examined from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas.)

Carex austrina, known as southern sedge, is a species of sedge endemic to the southern and central United States.

It was first described as Carex muehlenbergii var. australis Olney ex L.H.Bailey in 1886.

Carex austrina est une espèce de plantes du genre Carex et de la famille des Cyperaceae.

Carex austrina adalah spesies tumbuhan seperti rumput yang tergolong ke dalam famili Cyperaceae. Spesies ini juga merupakan bagian dari ordo Poales. Spesies Carex austrina sendiri merupakan bagian dari genus Carex. Nama ilmiah dari spesies ini pertama kali diterbitkan oleh Mack..

Carex austrina là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Cói. Loài này được Mack. mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1907.