Carex buxbaumii Wahlenb. APNI* Description: Loosely tufted; rhizome short. Culms triquetrous, smooth below, scabrous above, 25–70 cm long, c. 1.3 mm diam.
Leaves shorter than to scarcely exceeding culms, 1.5–3 mm wide; ligule acute.
Inflorescence 4–10 cm long, with 2–5 spikes solitary at nodes; lowest involucral bract shorter than to exceeding inflorescence. Spikes sessile, more or less contiguous, spreading slightly at maturity, 0.7–2.5 cm long; uppermost spike gynaecandrous; lower spikes female. Male and female bracts ('glumes') acuminate to acute, often long-mucronate (mucro to 1.5 mm long), red-brown to dark red-brown with paler midrib; female bracts 3–6 mm long. Perigynia (utricles) ovoid to narrow-ellipsoid, nerveless or indistinctly nerved, 3.0–4.5 mm long, c. 2 mm diam., minutely papillose, pale green to brown; beak a minute notch to 0.2 mm long. Style 3-fid.
Nut obovate to elliptical in outline, trigonous in cross-section.
Distribution and occurrence: Naturalised in Cathedral Rock Nat. Park (N Tablelands) and Scabby Range Nature Reserve (S Tablelands); also sparingly naturalised in NE Victoria and Tasmania. Native of Europe. Swampy flats at higher altitude.
NSW subdivisions: *NT, *ST
Other Australian states: *Vic. *Tas.
Carex buxbaumii is only occasionally naturalized but may be more common and overlooked because it grows with C. gaudichaudiana and is of similar size and habit. It differs from that species in the following features: uppermost spike in the inflorescence gynaecandrous and 0.7-2.5 cm long (vs male and 2.5-6 cm long in C. gaudichaudiana); lower spikes female, of similar length to male (vs female or gynaecandrous, 1.5-4.5 cm long); bracts/glumes red-brown to dark red-brown with pale midvein (vs very dark red-brown to purplish brown with pale midvein); bracts/glumes of male spikelets acute (vs obtuse); bracts/glumes of female spikelets long-mucronate to acuminate, 3-5 mm long (vs acute to obtuse, not mucronate, 2.8-3.5 mm long); style 3-fid (vs 2-fid, or rarely 3-fid in some flowers); utricles 3-4.5 mm long, abruptly constricted (no beak) to a minutely notched apex (vs 2.7-4.5 mm long, tapering to a short beak c. 0.3 mm long with a minutely notched apex).
Text by Karen L. Wilson (1996; edited Aug 2011, Aug 2016, June 2026)
Taxon concept: Karen Wilson in Telopea 6(4): 572 (1996)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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