Carex umbrosa

Subsp. huetiana: Kırk ayakotu; Subps. sabynensis: Korsaparna

Caespitose, without rhizomes. Stems 8-38 cm , ± erect, subterete, smooth, leafy only at base; basal sheaths usually dark brown, soon becoming strongly fibrous. Leaves 1.5-3.6 mm broad, c. 1/2 x stems or shorter, ± flat, greyish-green, scabrid-margined, minutely papillose below, tip often contracted. Male spike usually 1, obovoid or oblong-clavate, 7-15 mm; glumes brownish. Female spikes 1-3, ovoid to oblong, 4-11 mm, terminally aggregated, partly overlapping each other and male spike, subsessile or lowest very shortly pedunculate; lowest bract glumaceous or setaceous, c. equalling its spike or usually shorter; sheath brownish-margined, 3-5 mm. Female glumes equalling or usually slightly shorter than utricles, obovate, acute or obtuse or sometimes praemorse, sometimes shortly mucronate, reddish- or orange-brown, mid-vein paler or greenish. Utricles dark greyish-green, obovoid, 2.3-3.1 mm, puberulent, almost veinless, ± stipitate, rather abruptly contracted into a 0.5-0.8 mm, almost straight, ± smooth, brown, emarginate to bifid beak. Damp alpine meadows, by springs, flushes, 1600-3350 m.

Pyrenees, Balkans , Caucasus . Euro-Sib, element.