Bunched perennial with flowering stems 6-24 inches tall bearing a separate male spike at the tip and 3-5 erect female spikes below (B,D). Each spike has only a few (usually 2-7) loosely spaced, grooved perigynia (A) whose beaks are bent to one side (F). The leaf sheaths usually have dense, stiff, short hairs that are rough to the touch (E).
Moist woodlands, especially at the base of bluffs or lower slopes of wooded ravines. This sedge is common at Fontenelle Forest in Handsome Hollow. It is also common at Neale Woods; in fact there are excellent displays of almost pure stands of this sedge on the moist, north facing slopes above Rock Creek on Paw Paw Trail and on another north facing slope along a short section of Jonas Trail. Flowering occurs in mid to late April (C). The perigynia persist into mid or late May.
Other sedges of our upland woods with separate male and female spikes do not have hairs on the leaf sheaths. The minute hairs which, fortunately for the observer are fairly stiff, can be more easily felt than seen. This is best accomplished by running the thumb and index finger very lightly up and down the flowering stem. The perigynia of Hitchcock’s Sedge are also more widely spaced than any of our other upland sedges. Only Woodland Sedge (Carex blanda) has perigynia with short, curved beaks which might be confused with the longer, grooved beaks of Hitchcock’s Sedge which have a ‘bent’ rather than ‘curved’ appearance.
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