Cyperaceae taxon details
Carex tunimanensis Standl. & Steyerm.
1677302 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:1677302)
accepted
Species
terrestrial
Holotype F 0045456, geounit Guatemala
Holotype F 0045456, geounit Guatemala [details]
Description Plants cespitose, with short, stout rhizomes clothed with persistent coriaceous, brown bases of leaf sheaths; roots brown,...
Description Plants cespitose, with short, stout rhizomes clothed with persistent coriaceous, brown bases of leaf sheaths; roots brown, very thick and little branched, not felted with root hairs; fertile culms 17-80 cm tall, trigonous, smooth, with glabrous, brown, bladeless basal sheaths. Leaves 7-14, mostly basal; blades 19-42.5 cm long, 2.4-7.7 mm wide, plicate, glabrous, the margins antrorsely scabrous distally, the widest leaves 5.2-7.7 mm wide; leaf sheaths 1.3-7.5 cm long, tightly enveloping culms, glabrous, green; inner band of sheaths hyaline and friable above, green and herbaceous below, glabrous, the apex concave to truncate; ligules up to 1.5 mm long, truncate or even concave, rarely slightly convex, often vestigial or absent on upper leaves. Vegetative shoots ca. 13-20 cm tall; leaves 9-13, similar to those of fertile culms; pseudoculms ca. 2-3 cm tall. Inflorescences 15-58 cm long, with the upper spikes overlapping and the lowest 2 spikes 3.9-16.5 cm distant; the upper and lowermost lateral spikes usually single (rarely 2) per node, the middle spikes 2-4 per node, with all but the upper pendulous on filiform, flexuous, smooth peduncles; lowermost spikes with peduncles 5.1-17.4 cm long, the uppermost lateral spikes sessile or nearly so; lowermost bracts with blades 6.5-18.5 cm long and 2.6-4.6 mm wide and sheaths 2.5-8.6 cm long; the uppermost bracts much reduced. Spikes 7-16, the upper 1-3(-5) staminate, the rest androgynous or pistillate. Terminal spikes 2.6-4.7 cm long, 3-3.8 mm wide, ca. 50-160 flowered; peduncles 2-16 mm long. Lateral staminate spikes 1.1-4.5 cm long, ca. 15-60-flowered (scattered pistillate flowers may occur sporadically on staminate spikes or portions of spikes). Lateral androgynous or pistillate spikes 1.6-8.2 cm long; staminate portion up to 2.1 cm long and ca. 40-flowered; pistillate portion 1.2-7 cm long, 6.5-9.5 mm wide, ca. 10-90-flowered. Pistillate scales 3.6-5.6 mm long, 1.9-2.8 mm wide, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, acute, glabrous, castaneous with broad hyaline margins and green center, 1-veined. Staminate scales 4.1-6 mm long, 1.4-2.8 mm wide, ovate to elliptic, obtuse to acute, glabrous, stramineous with broad hyaline margins and green center, 1-veined. Perigynia 4.2-6.3 mm long,0.9-1.4 mm wide, ascending, ? flattened-trigonous with flat, lanceolate sides (the widest side often concave), green to stramineous, glabrous, sessile, 7-11-veined with 2 veins prominent and the rest faint, contracted into a beak; beaks 1.2-2.7 mm long, stramineous to castaneous, glabrous, the distal part of beak hyaline for 0.3-1.1 mm, the apex flared and irregularly lacerate. Achene 1.8-2.2 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, mostly +-rounded-trigonous with +- convex, elliptic sides (the widest side often concave) but very variable in cross-sectional shape, +- loosely enveloped by the perigynium, pale brown, sessile. Styles withering but persistent; stigmas 3, very long and flexuous, persistent until achenes are mature. Anthers 3, 1.8-3.7 mm long. [details]
Cyperaceae Working Group. (2025). [see How to cite]. Global Cyperaceae Database. Carex tunimanensis Standl. & Steyerm.. Accessed at: https://www.cyperaceae.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1677302 on 2026-09-05
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2024-12-10 11:47:54Z
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Nomenclature
original description
Standley, P.C.; Steyermark, J. (1953). New species of Carex from Guatemala. <em>Ceiba.</em> 4, 62-68.
page(s): 65 [details] Available for editors
[request]
page(s): 65 [details] Available for editors
[request]Other
additional source
Reznicek, A. A. (1986). The Taxonomy of <i>Carex</i> sect. <i>Hymenochlaenae</i> (Cyperaceae) in Mexico and Central America. <em>Systematic Botany.</em> 11(1): 56-87., available online at https://doi.org/10.2307/2418947
page(s): 63 [details] Available for editors [request]
page(s): 63 [details] Available for editors
[request]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Holotype F 0045456, geounit Guatemala [details]
From editor or global species database
Comparison Carex tunimanensis is an exception among Mexican and Central American species of sect. Hymenochlaenae in having close relatives in the temperate zones. It belongs with a group of species of sect. Hymenochlaenae sometimes segregated (Mackenzie 1935) as sect. Longirostres and including C. arnellii Christ, C. cherokeensis, C. hondoensis Ohwi, C. sprengelii, C. bostrychostigma Maxim., C. spacheana Boott, C. metallica Leveille, and C. sylvatica. This group is characterized by usually having long-beaked, elongate perigynia, long flexuous stigmas that frequently persist until the achenes are mature, andbrown, mostly persistent and fibrous, basal sheaths clothing the short-creeping rhizomes.
n addition to the features noted above, Carex tunimanensis also has spikes more than one per node and an unusual, hyaline, flared apical portion to the beak. All these features are unique among Mexican and Central American Hymenochlaenae. Carex cherokeensis of the southeastern United States shares all these features and is undoubtedly the closest relative of C. tunimanensis, differing mostly in having very pale, stramineous or whitish pistillate scales and broader perigynia 1.4-2.3 mm wide whereas C. tunimanensis has castaneous pistillate scales and perigynia 0.9-1.4 mm wide. Indeed, C. cherokeensis is one of the few temperate sedges of subg. Carex that regularly bears more than one spike at a node. The peculiar, hyaline apex of the beak in C. tunimanensis is exactly matched by that on the very similar, but narrower, perigynia of C. hondoensis, which occurs in Japan. [details]
Description Plants cespitose, with short, stout rhizomes clothed with persistent coriaceous, brown bases of leaf sheaths; roots brown, very thick and little branched, not felted with root hairs; fertile culms 17-80 cm tall, trigonous, smooth, with glabrous, brown, bladeless basal sheaths. Leaves 7-14, mostly basal; blades 19-42.5 cm long, 2.4-7.7 mm wide, plicate, glabrous, the margins antrorsely scabrous distally, the widest leaves 5.2-7.7 mm wide; leaf sheaths 1.3-7.5 cm long, tightly enveloping culms, glabrous, green; inner band of sheaths hyaline and friable above, green and herbaceous below, glabrous, the apex concave to truncate; ligules up to 1.5 mm long, truncate or even concave, rarely slightly convex, often vestigial or absent on upper leaves. Vegetative shoots ca. 13-20 cm tall; leaves 9-13, similar to those of fertile culms; pseudoculms ca. 2-3 cm tall. Inflorescences 15-58 cm long, with the upper spikes overlapping and the lowest 2 spikes 3.9-16.5 cm distant; the upper and lowermost lateral spikes usually single (rarely 2) per node, the middle spikes 2-4 per node, with all but the upper pendulous on filiform, flexuous, smooth peduncles; lowermost spikes with peduncles 5.1-17.4 cm long, the uppermost lateral spikes sessile or nearly so; lowermost bracts with blades 6.5-18.5 cm long and 2.6-4.6 mm wide and sheaths 2.5-8.6 cm long; the uppermost bracts much reduced. Spikes 7-16, the upper 1-3(-5) staminate, the rest androgynous or pistillate. Terminal spikes 2.6-4.7 cm long, 3-3.8 mm wide, ca. 50-160 flowered; peduncles 2-16 mm long. Lateral staminate spikes 1.1-4.5 cm long, ca. 15-60-flowered (scattered pistillate flowers may occur sporadically on staminate spikes or portions of spikes). Lateral androgynous or pistillate spikes 1.6-8.2 cm long; staminate portion up to 2.1 cm long and ca. 40-flowered; pistillate portion 1.2-7 cm long, 6.5-9.5 mm wide, ca. 10-90-flowered. Pistillate scales 3.6-5.6 mm long, 1.9-2.8 mm wide, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, acute, glabrous, castaneous with broad hyaline margins and green center, 1-veined. Staminate scales 4.1-6 mm long, 1.4-2.8 mm wide, ovate to elliptic, obtuse to acute, glabrous, stramineous with broad hyaline margins and green center, 1-veined. Perigynia 4.2-6.3 mm long,0.9-1.4 mm wide, ascending, ? flattened-trigonous with flat, lanceolate sides (the widest side often concave), green to stramineous, glabrous, sessile, 7-11-veined with 2 veins prominent and the rest faint, contracted into a beak; beaks 1.2-2.7 mm long, stramineous to castaneous, glabrous, the distal part of beak hyaline for 0.3-1.1 mm, the apex flared and irregularly lacerate. Achene 1.8-2.2 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, mostly +-rounded-trigonous with +- convex, elliptic sides (the widest side often concave) but very variable in cross-sectional shape, +- loosely enveloped by the perigynium, pale brown, sessile. Styles withering but persistent; stigmas 3, very long and flexuous, persistent until achenes are mature. Anthers 3, 1.8-3.7 mm long. [details]
Ecology Carex tunimanensis occurs in Chiapas and western Guatemala in moist forest and alpine meadows at elevations of 2800 to 3500 m. It evidently fruits from May to July. [details]
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (3 publications)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Carex tunimanensis)
To Field Museum Herbarium (Carex tunimanensis Standl. & Steyerm. F1128966 holotype 1)
To GenBank (3 nucleotides; 1 proteins)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI)
To Plants of the World Online
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Carex tunimanensis)
To Field Museum Herbarium (Carex tunimanensis Standl. & Steyerm. F1128966 holotype 1)
To GenBank (3 nucleotides; 1 proteins)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI)
To Plants of the World Online
From editor or global species database
Hosted externally
