''Carex bicolor'', the bicoloured sedge, is a species of

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

native to North America, Northern Europe and Northern Asia. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed the plant's conservation status as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

because it has a widespread distribution and faces no particular threats.

Description

''Carex bicolor'' is a tufted perennial sedge growing to a height of about . The grass-like leaves are mostly basal, greyish-green with blades up to long and wide, linear, strongly keeled, with parallel veins and long pointed tips. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

has a triangular stem about the same length as the leaves. It bears two or three spikes of small flowers, the terminal spike having staminate flowers for the lowest third and pistillate flowers above. The floral scale is shorter than the

perigynium In botany, a perigynium (plural: perigynia), also referred to as a utricle, typically refers to a sac that surrounds the achene of plants in the genus ''Carex'' (Cyperaceae). The perigynium is a modified prophyll, also known as a glume, which is t ...

that surrounds the

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...

and has brown or reddish-black edges with a green midvein.

Distribution and habitat

''Carex bicolor'' has a pan-boreal distribution. In North America it is present in most of Canada, Greenland, in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. In Northern Europe and Asia, it is present at both low and high altitudes, but further south it is limited to higher altitudes. Its southerly limit is the mountains of Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. It often grows in lime-rich habitats such as moist tundra, at the upper edge of beaches, near pools in wet sand, in poorly vegetated marshes and patches of moist bare mud. It often grows in association with other sedges; in Switzerland these are often ''

Carex pallescens ''Carex pallescens'', called pale sedge, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the genus ''Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family (biology), family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges ...

'', ''

Carex panicea ''Carex panicea'', commonly known as carnation sedge, is a plant species in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. It is known as grass-like sedge and can be found in Northern and Western Europe, and also in north-eastern North America. The plant produce ...

'', and ''

Carex vaginata ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' may ...

''. ''Carex bicolor'' was one of several species of plant not previously known in Britain, that were "discovered" growing on the island of

Rùm Rùm (), a Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicisation, anglicised to Rum ( ), is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, in the district of Lochaber. For much of the 20th century the ...

in the

Inner Hebrides The Inner Hebrides ( ; ) is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which experience a mild oceanic climate. The Inner Hebrides compri ...

in the 1940s by the botanist John William Heslop-Harrison, Professor of Botany at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. These discoveries added to his reputation, but were later cast into doubt after investigations by classical scholar and botanist

John Raven John Earle Raven (13 December 1914 – 5 March 1980) was an English classical scholar, notable for his work on pre-Socratic philosophy, and amateur botanist. His wife, Faith, inherited the 35,000 acre Ardtornish Estate in Argyllshire, Scotland ...

, who found that some of the plants were not present on the island at all, while others had been recently planted there; it is now considered that the claim that the plants were indigenous to Rùm was fraudulent.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2076996 bicolor Flora of Europe Flora of Northern America Plants described in 1785 Flora of Greenland