Cyperaceae taxon details
Carex colombiana Jim.Mejías, Lois, Acedo, & A.Cano
1845433 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:1845433)
accepted
Species
terrestrial
Lois, R.; Reznicek, A. A.; González-Elizondo, M. S.; Cano, A.; Acedo, C.; Jiménez-Mejías, P. (2025). When basics are much needed: morphometric exploration of twenty-one known species of the Neotropical
<i>Carex</i>
sect.
<i>Fecundae</i>
(Cyperaceae) reveals eighteen neglected new species. <em>Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> , available online at https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boaf097 [details] Available for editors 
[request]
[request]
Holotype MO 3094808
Holotype MO 3094808 [details]
Description Culms 40–115 cm × 2–3 mm. Basal sheaths orangey-brownish. Leaves (40)60–135 cm × 4.5–10.0 mm largest ones, longer...
Distribution Northern Andes, primarily in the mountains of Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, rarer on its easternmost foothills in...
Etymology The epithet colombiana is here coined to make a double dedication. On the one hand, we want to honor the country of...
Description Culms 40–115 cm × 2–3 mm. Basal sheaths orangey-brownish. Leaves (40)60–135 cm × 4.5–10.0 mm largest ones, longer than the culms, oldest one’s brown at the base. Inflorescence panicle, (4.5)9.0–16.0 cm long, with 10–25(43) androgynous spikes, spreading or dropping. Proximal-most bract 7.0–20.5(45.8) cm × 3–7 mm, equal or longer than the inflorescence. Spikes 2.5–7.0 cm × 4.5–8.2 mm, linear to oblong, densely flowered, the distal 1/4 to 1/3 staminate, 2-branched, with about (100)150–170 female flowers, peduncles usually smooth, subequal to the spikes. Pistillate glumes 3.7–4.8 × 0.9–1.6 mm, lanceolate, acute, emucronate, purplish-black with a light-yellow middle longitudinal strip, hyaline margins extremely narrow or absent, when present it is all along the glume. Stigmas 3. Utricles 2.6–3.1 × 0.9–1.4 mm, elliptic to obovate, smooth, green-brownish, usually nerveless or nerves slightly marked, constricted at the apex into a 0.3–0.8 mm long straight beak, smooth, truncate. Nutlets 1.6–2.0 × 0.9–1.3 mm, elliptic to obovate, with one deep lateral invagination in the middle. [details]
Distribution Northern Andes, primarily in the mountains of Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, rarer on its easternmost foothills in...
Distribution Northern Andes, primarily in the mountains of Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, rarer on its easternmost foothills in Venezuela, scattered at the south, reaching Ecuador and N Peru. [details]
Etymology The epithet colombiana is here coined to make a double dedication. On the one hand, we want to honor the country of...
Etymology The epithet colombiana is here coined to make a double dedication. On the one hand, we want to honor the country of Colombia, core of the distribution area of this species. Colombia is one of the most diverse areas of the planet and a cultural epicenter from the whole Spanish-speaking world, homeland of the remembered Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez and the painter Fernando Botero, as well as of almost universal pop-culture references from our time as the singer Shakira or the TV-show “Betty la Fea”, among many others. On the other hand, we commemorate Christopher Columbus (known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish), 15-16th Century explorer who, under the patronage of Spain, led the first western expedition that contacted America in the Modern Period, and after whom Colombia itself is named. This way, with the epithet colombiana we want to honor the concept of hispanidad, shared and multidirectional heritage of the Spanish-speaking world, represented in the joint authorship of this paper by researchers from Mexico, Peru, and Spain. [details]
Cyperaceae Working Group. (2025). [see How to cite]. Global Cyperaceae Database. Carex colombiana Jim.Mejías, Lois, Acedo, & A.Cano. Accessed at: https://www.cyperaceae.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1845433 on 2025-12-14
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Nomenclature
original description
Lois, R.; Reznicek, A. A.; González-Elizondo, M. S.; Cano, A.; Acedo, C.; Jiménez-Mejías, P. (2025). When basics are much needed: morphometric exploration of twenty-one known species of the Neotropical
<i>Carex</i>
sect.
<i>Fecundae</i>
(Cyperaceae) reveals eighteen neglected new species. <em>Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> , available online at https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boaf097 [details] Available for editors [request]
[request]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Holotype MO 3094808 [details]
From editor or global species database
Description Culms 40–115 cm × 2–3 mm. Basal sheaths orangey-brownish. Leaves (40)60–135 cm × 4.5–10.0 mm largest ones, longer than the culms, oldest one’s brown at the base. Inflorescence panicle, (4.5)9.0–16.0 cm long, with 10–25(43) androgynous spikes, spreading or dropping. Proximal-most bract 7.0–20.5(45.8) cm × 3–7 mm, equal or longer than the inflorescence. Spikes 2.5–7.0 cm × 4.5–8.2 mm, linear to oblong, densely flowered, the distal 1/4 to 1/3 staminate, 2-branched, with about (100)150–170 female flowers, peduncles usually smooth, subequal to the spikes. Pistillate glumes 3.7–4.8 × 0.9–1.6 mm, lanceolate, acute, emucronate, purplish-black with a light-yellow middle longitudinal strip, hyaline margins extremely narrow or absent, when present it is all along the glume. Stigmas 3. Utricles 2.6–3.1 × 0.9–1.4 mm, elliptic to obovate, smooth, green-brownish, usually nerveless or nerves slightly marked, constricted at the apex into a 0.3–0.8 mm long straight beak, smooth, truncate. Nutlets 1.6–2.0 × 0.9–1.3 mm, elliptic to obovate, with one deep lateral invagination in the middle. [details]Distribution Northern Andes, primarily in the mountains of Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, rarer on its easternmost foothills in Venezuela, scattered at the south, reaching Ecuador and N Peru. [details]
Etymology The epithet colombiana is here coined to make a double dedication. On the one hand, we want to honor the country of Colombia, core of the distribution area of this species. Colombia is one of the most diverse areas of the planet and a cultural epicenter from the whole Spanish-speaking world, homeland of the remembered Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez and the painter Fernando Botero, as well as of almost universal pop-culture references from our time as the singer Shakira or the TV-show “Betty la Fea”, among many others. On the other hand, we commemorate Christopher Columbus (known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish), 15-16th Century explorer who, under the patronage of Spain, led the first western expedition that contacted America in the Modern Period, and after whom Colombia itself is named. This way, with the epithet colombiana we want to honor the concept of hispanidad, shared and multidirectional heritage of the Spanish-speaking world, represented in the joint authorship of this paper by researchers from Mexico, Peru, and Spain. [details]
Habitat High altitude páramo shrublands, on wet or moist soils, sometimes also on temporarily inundated areas or seasonal streams. 2500–4200 m. [details]
From editor or global species database
