Carex reichenbachii, Bonnet

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1980, Flora Europaea. Volume 5. Alismataceae to Orchidaceae (Monocotyledones), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 299

14. C. reichenbachii Bonnet , Petite FI. Paris. 420 (1883).

Stems 30-50 (-90) cm; basal sheaths pale brown. Leaves 2-3 mm wide, exceeding stems. Spikes 5-12, all with female flowers above and male below, or the upper entirely male or male above, ovoid, crowded into an irregular oblong, lobed inflorescence 3-5 cm, the lower spikes often somewhat remote. Female glumes pale yellowish-brown. Utricles c. 5 mm, pale greenish, conspicuously veined, with a wide, denticulate, scarious wing in the upper I, gradually narrowed into a long beak. Dry, sandy places. • From N. France to N.E. Germany and Czechoslovakia. Be Cz Ga Ge Ho Po.

A little-understood plant, perhaps of hybrid origin from 18 and some other species. C. pseudobrizoides Clavaud , Bull. Trav. Soc. Pharm. Bordeaux 13: 156 (1873), described from S.W. France, is possibly conspecific with 14.