''Carex capillacea'', common name yellowleaf sedge in Tasmania, is a species of

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

(in the

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

family) found in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, the far east of Russia,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, south east Australia, New Zealand,

Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom. It has been given different definitions. The ...

, China, Japan and India.

Description

''Carex capillacea'' is densely tufted. The culms (up to long by ) are erect and slender. The leaves are usually shorter than culms, and the sheath is green to pale brown. The inflorescence is erect and has one spike. The male portion of the spike is above the female portion. The style is divided into three parts. It flowers from October to December, fruits from October to July, and the nuts are dispersed by

granivory Seed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source,Hulme, P.E. and Benkman, C.W. (2002) "Granivory", pp. 132 ...

and wind.

Distribution & habitat

In New Zealand it is found on the North Island on the Waimarino Plain, and the Moawhango and in the South Island from Nelson and

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

south to the lakes of Te Anau, Manapouri, Hauroko and east to Lumsden. Its preferred habitat is bogs, seepages, and the margins of ponds and pools.

Conservation status

Assessments under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had some ...

(NZTCS), declared it to be "At Risk – Naturally Uncommon" (NU) in 2013, and in 2017 to be "Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable" (NV). In Tasmania, it is declared "Threatened".

Taxonomy & naming

''Carex capillacea'' was first described in 1858 by

Francis Boott Francis Boott (26 September 1792 – 25 December 1863) was an American physician and botanist who was resident in Great Britain from 1820. Biography Boott was born in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, the brother of Kirk Boott, o ...

from specimens collected in the temperate eastern Himalayas at by Joseph Dalton Hooker in Sikkim and by William Griffith in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

. The specific epithet, ''capillacea'', derives from the Latin ''capillus'' "hair" or "thread", and thus describes the plant as being thread-like.

References

External links

''Carex capillacea'' New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

''Carex capillacea'' occurrence data
from

GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

pdf
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2938403 capillacea Plants described in 1858 Taxa named by Francis Boott Flora of New Zealand Flora of Australia Flora of New Guinea