Carex rupestris
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the sedge family}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = CarexRupestris2010b.jpg
| image_caption = On a mountainside in the Czech Republic
| image_alt =
| status = G5
| status_system = TNC
| status_ref = {{Cite web
| date = 1 November 2024
| title = Carex rupestris Rock Sedge
| url = https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.130353/
| website = NatureServe Explorer (explorer.natureserve.org)
| publisher = NatureServe
| language = en
| access-date = 6 November 2024
}}
| genus = Carex
| species = rupestris
| authority = All.
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision =
{{Species list
| Carex rupestris subsp. altimontana | T.V.Ebel
| Carex rupestris subsp. rupestris |
}}
| synonyms =
{{Species list | header = Species | hidden = yes
| Caricinella rupestris | (All.) St.-Lag.
| Edritria rupestris | (All.) Raf.
}}
{{Species list | header = subsp. altimontana{{Cite POWO | id = 20011601-1 | title = Carex rupestris subsp. altimontana T.V.Ebel | access-date = 6 November 2024}} | hidden = yes
| Carex altimontana | (T.V.Ebel) Schekhovts.
}}
{{Species list | header = subsp. rupestris{{Cite POWO | id = 77170165-1 | title = Carex rupestris subsp. rupestris | access-date = 6 November 2024}} | hidden = yes
| Carex attenuata | R.Br.
| Carex drummondiana | Dewey
| Carex dufourei | Lapeyr.
| Carex petraea | Wahlenb.
| Carex pulicaris var. montana | Pugsley
| Carex rupestris var. drummondiana | (Dewey) L.H.Bailey
| Carex rupestris subsp. drummondiana | (Dewey) Holub
| Carex rupestris f. pygmaea | Bolzon
| Edritria petraea | (Wahlenb.) Raf.
}}
}}
Carex rupestris, called the curly sedge and rock sedge (names it shares with other members of its genus), is a species of flowering plant in the family Cyperaceae, native to temperate and subarctic North America, Greenland, Iceland, Europe, and Asia.{{Cite POWO | id = 302034-1 | title = Carex rupestris All. | access-date = 6 November 2024}}
Description
Carex rupestris is a type of sedge, growing between {{Convert|10–20|cm|in|abbr=off|0}} in height. It grows in dense, matted tufts.{{Cite web |title=Carex rupestris |url=https://svalbardflora.no/index.php/carex/carex-rupestris |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=svalbardflora.no}} Rhizome branch lengths measure {{Convert|0.4–5.0|cm|in|abbr=on|1}}. Aerial shoots ascend from the rhizome, with dead leaves persisting for several years and giving the stands a typical straw-yellow colour, recognizable at a distance. Leaves are up to {{Convert|2|mm|in|abbr=off|2}} wide and channelled, appearing at the base of the stem. The inflorescence is composed of a single spike at the top of the stem.{{Cite web |title=Plants of Iceland: Carex rupestris, Rock Sedge, Móastör |url=https://www.iceland-nh.net/plants/data/Carex-rupestris/carex_rupestris.html |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=www.iceland-nh.net}} Rhizomes are brown or black, with a scaly appearance. The species fruits in late spring to summer.{{Cite web |title=SERNEC - Carex rupestris |url=https://sernecportal.org/portal/taxa/index.php?taxon=18023&clid=3765 |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=sernecportal.org}}
Distribution and habitat
Carex rupestris is an arctic-alpine species found at higher altitudes. It favours dry ground, heathland, talus slopes, and rocky outcrops and ledges.{{cite journal |last1=Chlebicki |first1=Andrzej |year=2014 |title=Biogeographic relationships between fungi and selected glacial relict plants |journal=Monographiae Botanicae |volume=90 |pages=1–230 |doi=10.5586/mb.2002.001 |doi-access=free}} Carex rupestris subsp. altimontana is found only in the Altai Republic of Russia.
Taxonomy
Conservation
Carex rupestris is considered an endangered species across the Carpathian Mountains due to the effect of climate change.{{Cite journal |last1=Svitková |first1=Ivana |last2=Svitok |first2=Marek |last3=Petrík |first3=Anton |last4=Bernátová |first4=Dana |last5=Senko |first5=Dušan |last6=Šibík |first6=Jozef |date=September 2019 |title=The Fate of Endangered Rock Sedge (Carex rupestris) in the Western Carpathians—The Future Perspective of an Arctic-Alpine Species under Climate Change |journal=Diversity |language=en |volume=11 |issue=9 |pages=172 |doi=10.3390/d11090172 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2019Diver..11..172S |issn=1424-2818}} It is extirpated in Bulgaria. In North America, {{As of|2024|November|lc=on}}, NatureServe listed C. rupestris as Globally Secure (G5). This status was last reviewed on {{Nowrap|15 July 2016}}. In individual provinces and states, it is listed as Critically Imperiled (S1) in South Dakota; Imperiled (S2) in Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec; and, Vulnerable (S3) in Alberta and Newfoundland.