Single Record

Species: Carex duriuscula [Carex eleocharis] [Carex stenophylla var. duriuscula] [Vignea duriuscula]

PhotoRecords: YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, by Del Norte alley 14 May 2025

Comments: Needleleaf sedge has been recorded quite often from the west mountain ranges of the Valley, but only once from the east ranges: in conifer forest just east of the Great Sand Dunes NPP (Alamosa Co, 1976). The typical habitat for Carex duriuscula is rather dry wooded hillsides in the montane, but the species does extend from basin grasslands to alpine slopes. Occasionally it can be found in ruderal habitats such as alley sides. Recent photorecords show it invading the edges of lawns in Del Norte (May 2025). In the USA, its normal range is all Western states except for California, Oregon, and Washington, and the northern Great Plains. Adventitious locations farther east include railway embankments. C. duriuscula follows the Rio Grande drainage a third of the way through New Mexico but no farther down stream. C. duriuscula and C. inops, sympatric in the westen ranges of the watershed, are two spcies sometimes confused. But note that the inflorescence of C. duriuscula is so tightly clustered that male and female spikes are hard to distinguish, whereas in the inflorescence of C. inops male and females spikes are separated, with the male usually on top.