Description: This native perennial plant has tufts
of arching leaves and flowering culms up to 3' long. Infertile shoots are
bunched together and produce a rosette-like growth of leaves, while fertile
shoots produce alternate leaves along the lower half of their culms. Each culm
is green, hairless, 3-angled, and
strongly winged along each
angle; its interior tends to be soft and spongy, especially in the lower half.
The culms are erect or ascending and rather stiff, but easily broken if they
are subjected to pressure. Immediately underneath the terminal inflorescence,
the texture of each culm is rough, otherwise it is usually smooth. The leaves
are up to 18" long and 1/3" across (or slightly wider). They are light green to
green, linear, glabrous, and slightly scabrous along their margins. The larger
leaves are often longitudinally indented toward the middle; they are rather
soft-textured and floppy. The sheaths of the leaves are rather fragile and
separate easily from the culm. Sometimes the surface of a separated sheath has
a puckered and wrinkly appearance from numerous cross-lines. At the base of
each plant, there are often the withered brown remnants of last year's leaves.
Each stalk terminates in an inflorescence up to 2" long. This inflorescence
consists of 6-15 short spikelets that are loosely clustered together. The
spikelets are initially green, but they later become yellowish brown. Each
spikelet consists of several pistillate flowers and their scales, which are
densely clustered together. There are also staminate flowers at the apex of
each spikelet, but they are few in number and insignificant. The perigynia of
the pistillate flowers are broadly lanceolate-ovate, tapering to a long beak.
They are about 3-4 mm. long and 2 mm. across. Immediately underneath each
perigynium, there is an ovate pistillate scale that tapers to an acute point or
short awn; it is a little shorter than the perigynium. Each pistillate scale
has a green central vein and translucent margins, although it later becomes
light brown. There are usually a few linear bracts among the spikelets; these
bracts are up to 1½" long. The blooming period occurs for 1-2 weeks
during late spring and the achenes develop during the early summer. Each achene
is about 2 mm. long and a little less across; it is somewhat angular and
flattened, becoming yellowish brown as it matures. The root system consists of
short rhizomes and coarse fibrous roots. Tight tufts of plants often develop
from the rhizomes.
Cultivation: The
preference is light shade to full sun, moist conditions, and a fertile loamy
soil.
Range & Habitat: Soft Fox
Sedge occurs occasionally in most areas of central and northern Illinois; it is
less common or absent in the southern portion of the state (see
Distribution
Map). Habitats include openings in floodplain forests, moist meadows in
wooded areas, thickets, riverbottom prairies, prairie swales, streambanks, and
powerline clearances in moist woodlands.
Faunal Associations: The flowers are wind-pollinated
and do not attract many insects. The caterpillars of various butterflies,
skippers, and moths feed on Carex spp. (primarily the foliage). See the
Lepidoptera Table for a
listing of these species. Other insects feeding on Carex spp. include
Stethophyma lineata (Striped Sedge Grasshopper), Stethophyma
celata (Otte's Sedge Grasshopper), and various leafhoppers: Cosmotettix
lineatus, Cosmotettix luteocephalus, Cosmotettix bierni, and
Elymana inornata. The seeds of Carex spp. are eaten by various
upland gamebirds, waterfowl, and songbirds (see the
Bird Table for a listing
of these species). The foliage of Carex spp. is not preferred as a
source of food by deer and rabbits, although livestock will eat
it.
Photographic Location: A
powerline clearance at Busey Woods in Urbana, Illinois. The foliage is more
yellow than it normally appears because the photographs were taken during the
evening.
Comments: Soft Fox Sedge
can be distinguished from most other Carex spp. (Sedges) by its 3-angled
strongly winged culms. Other sedges have round or 3-angled culms, but they are
rarely winged. However, Carex alopecoidea (Foxtail Sedge) has 3-angled
strongly winged culms and its inflorescence is similar to the inflorescence of
Soft Fox Sedge. Foxtail Sedge can be distinguished by its more narrow leaves
(up to ¼" across), the lack of wrinkled puckering of its sheaths, and
its more narrow perigynia (up to 1.8 mm. across). Otherwise, these two sedges
are quite similar to each other. A commonly encountered species, Carex
vulpinoidea (Fox Sedge), has 3-angled culms that are not winged and its
inflorescence is usually longer than the preceding species (up to 4" long).
Otherwise, its appearance is similar to Soft Fox Sedge and Foxtail
Sedge.