Carex nivalis

Carex is a large and difficult genus.  I photographed 3 Carex in my own village in the UK this year and have only, so far, been able to name one of them.  There is a guide to Carex published by the BSBI which I had a copy of at one time but was damaged and discarded; I do not currently have the budget to buy an up-dated version.  Without it I will struggle (without help) to name the other two.

In the UK we are blessed with The Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) which has a Panel of Referees and Specialists available to have material sent to them to identify.  There are a number of specialists available to accept specimens of Carex (either pressed and dried or in some cases fresh) with certain ones with particular expertise in particular groups or aggregates.  In all cases mature fruits and underground parts should be sent.  I doubt if many of them would be able or willing to attempt to name specimens on the basis of photos alone particular those not of greater close-ups or with more mature fruits than shown in these images.

Stewart commented that like the Carex alpina complex in the Himalaya, the Carex nivalis complex is a very difficult one and the authorities do not yet agree on the best way to handle it.  Some one should study the group cytologically to try and disentangle the threads. There seem to be groups which Kukenthal in his Monograph called froms.  Some have called them varieties and still others consider some of them to be distinct species.

Having said that, Stewart enlisted the help of various Carex specialists to name the sedges of Pakistan & Kashmir incl. in the summer of 1964 Miss Sheila Hooper who went over the rich material at Kew with him and made the following key for the Carex gilesii-Carex griffithii-Carex nivalis complex:

1. Terminal spike usually entirely male; utricle distinctly but shortly beaked  C.gilesii

 Terminal spike female below, male above; beak from almost nil to distinct  …..2

2. Glumes and utricles black …………………………………………………………………….3

    Glumes and utricles cinnamon brown …………………… C.oliverii (C.nivalis forma cinnamomea)

3  Glumes and utricles golden ………………………………………… C.luteo-brunnea

    Glumes and utricles not golden ………………………………………………………………4

4  Glumes with a conspicuous green arista which exceeds the utricle  ….. C.nivalis forma griffithii

    Glumes with a short mucro; beak of utricle short  ……………………………..C.nivalis  var. nivalis

Khelanmarg is closer in altitude than Gulmarg to this altitudinal range but the complex is not well known, assuming it.  These images look similar to the ones taken at Gulmarg.

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