notes These plants were growing in a wet area along a tributary brook to Butano Creek. I first attempted to ascertain the ID from the photos here using the Carex key in the ''Flora of the Santa Cruz Mountains'' by J. H. Thomas. That led me to C. barbarae. Whenever I was unsure about the interpretation of any of the characters used at various points in that key, I checked online for line drawings & images for taxa in the opposing couplet choices...in each instance those images seemed to clearly eliminate the alternatives.
Nevertheless, Thomas's flora is somewhat old so I decided to try to key the plant in my photos again, this time using the more recent Flora of North America Carex treatment. The keying sequence I followed is indicated below. Note that each choice is supported (modulo my possible misinterpretations) by characters visible in the full-size images in the series of photos herein:
1b) Spikes 2+ per culm, some flowers in lateral spikes....2 2b) At least some flowers pistillate.....3 3a) Stigmas 2; achenes flat to biconvex in cross section.....Key C 1b) Perigynia glabrous, sometimes papillose.....2 2a) Lateral spikes pedunculate.....3 3a) Pistillate scales, at least the proximal, long-awned.....Carex sect. Phacocystis 3b) Pistillate scales obtuse to acuminate or cuspidate.....4
Depending on the interpretation of the terms 'long-awned' vs 'acuminate', I could see going with either 3a) or 3b). But either way I ended up with Carex sect. Phacocystis...so I continued to the FNA key for that section, yielding:
1a) Pistillate scales with prominent, scabrous awn on at least the proximal scales......2 2b) Leaf blades not involute, the widest more than 2 mm wide......3 3b) Perigynia veined......7 7b) Proximal bract not spathelike, not enclosing spike.....8 8a) Beak of perigynium bidentate, apical teeth to 0.5 mm.....9 9a) Proximal bract much longer than inflorescence......C. barbarae
The FNA description of C. barbarae and their illustration are good matches for my post.
Again, when I had doubts at various points in the keying process, I followed most the alternate choices out and was able to eliminate them by comparing with images and/or line drawings found on CalPhotos or elsewhere of the taxa in the opposing leads. So, even though I don't have a lot of experience keying Carex, I'm pretty sure this is C. barbarae. If anyone out there with expertise in Carex can correct or confirm this ID, I'd be very grateful to hear from you.
