Carex silicea Olney

Plants densely cespitose. Culms 15–85 cm; vegetative culms inconspicuous. Leaves: sheaths conspicuously green-veined adaxially nearly to collar, narrow hyaline band or sharp Y-shaped region at collar, adaxially firm, summits truncate, prolonged 1–4 mm beyond collar, lateral auricles usually present, finely papillose (30X); distal ligules 1.2–3.5 mm; blades 2–4 per fertile culm, ± whitish green, 10–25 cm × 1–5 mm, stiff. Inflorescences arching or nodding, open, silvery green, (2.5–)4–8 cm × 5–12 mm; proximal internode 5–22 mm; 2d internode 6–19 mm; proximal bracts scalelike or bristlelike, shorter than inflorescences. Spikes 3–7(–12), distant, distinct, ellipsoid, (5–)10–20 × 4–8 mm, bases clavate, apex acute to obtuse; staminate portion of well-developed spikes 2–11 mm. Pistillate scales white-hyaline, with green to gold midstripe, ovate, 4–5.2 mm, as long as and narrower than perigynia, margins frequently involute, apex acute; staminate scales with apex acute. Perigynia appressed, light brown, conspicuously 6–12-veined abaxially, conspicuously 3–5-veined adaxially, obovate to elliptic, somewhat concavo-convex, 3.5–5 × 2–3.2 mm, 0.5–0.6 mm thick, margin flat, including wing 0.5–0.8 mm wide, somewhat papillose; beak light brown at tip, flat, ciliate-serrulate, abaxial suture with conspicuous white-hyaline margin, distance from beak tip to achene 1.5–2.5 mm. Achenes elliptic, 1.6–1.8 × 1–1.2 mm, 0.5–0.6 mm thick. 2n = 74, 76.

N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., P.E.I., Que.; Conn., Del., Maine, Md., Mass., N.H., N.J., N.Y., R.I., Va.

Fruiting early–mid summer.

Coastal sand and gravel flats and dunes; 0m.

Carex silicea Olney, Proc. Am. Acad. 7: 393. 1868
Carex straminea var. moniliformis Tuckerm. Enum. Caric. 7, in small part onlv; not as to C. tenera
Dewey. 1843. "Carex odusta Boott" Carev, in A. Gray, Man. ed. 2. 516. 1856.
Carex foenea var. t Boott, 111. Carex 118. pi. 377. 1862. (Type from Rhode Island.) Carex foenea var. (?) sabulonum A. Gray, Man. ed. 5. 580. 1867. (Type from Maine southward.) Carex straminea var. silicea L. H. Bailey, Cat. N. Am. Car. 4. 1884. (Based on C. silicea Olney.) Carex moniliformis Britton, Cat. PI. N. J. 278, in part. 1890. (As to plant, not C. straminea var.
moniliformis Tuckerm.)
Densely cespitose, the rootstocks short-prolonged, blackish, strongly fibrillose, the culms 3-8 dm. high, stiff, sharply triangular above and slightly roughened on the angles beneath the head, terete towards base, exceeding or shorter than the leaves, very conspicuously clothed at base with the dried-up leaves of the previous year, the lowest bladeless; leaves with welldeveloped blades 4-8 to a fertile culm, on the lower half, but not bunched, the blades ascending, flat or somewhat canaliculate, 1-2 dm. long, 2.5-4 mm. wide, very light-green or glaucousgreen, stiff, roughened towards the apex and on the margins and with a small hard knob on either side at base, the sheaths green-striate ventrally to mouth, very strongly prolonged in front beyond base of blade and continuous with ligule; sterile culms few, more leafy; inflorescence consisting of 3-12 silvery-greenish or silvery-brownish spikes, strongly separated in a long flexuous moniliiorm inflorescence 4-8 cm. long, the spikes gynaecandrous, erect-ascending, with long-clavate base, obtusish at apex, 5-20 mm. long (including base), 4—7 mm. wide, the scales of the basal staminate flowers conspicuous, the pistillate parts ovoid, the perigynia numerous, appressed-ascending, the beaks strongly appressed; bracts scale-like or the lower short-prolonged ; scales ovate, acute, hyaline with greenish or yellowish-brown midrib, shorter and much narrower than the perigynia; perigynia flattened-plano-convex, 3.5-5 mm. long, 22.5 mm. wide, membranaceous, silvery-green or in age silvery-brown, the body obovate-orbicular, widest near top, strongly winged to base and serrulate to middle, strongly many-nerved dorsally, rather faintly several-nerved ventrally, sessile, round-truncate at base, abruptly contracted into a beak one fourth the length of body, short, flat, serrulate, obliquely cut dorsally. at length bidentulate; achenes lenticular, thick, short-oblong or quadrate, 1.5 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, brown, substipitate, apiculate; style slender, jointed with achene, at length deciduous; stigmas two, slender, dark-brown, elongate.
Type locality: Specimens presumably collected by Olney "on rocks and beaches, Narragansett Bay," Rhode Island, are taken as the type.
Distribution: Sands of the sea coast, Newfoundland to Delaware. (Specimens examined from Newfoundland, Quebec. Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware.)

Carex silicea, known as beach sedge, is a species of sedge native to North America. It is found in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada.

Carex silicea adalah spesies tumbuhan seperti rumput yang tergolong ke dalam famili Cyperaceae. Spesies ini juga merupakan bagian dari ordo Poales. Spesies Carex silicea sendiri merupakan bagian dari genus Carex. Nama ilmiah dari spesies ini pertama kali diterbitkan oleh Olney.

Carex silicea là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Cói. Loài này được Olney mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1868.