Carex depauperata Curtis ex Stokes (Cyperaceae), a new species for Portugal
NOTAS DO HERBÁRIO FLORESTAL DO INIAV (LISFA): FASC. XXXVIII
Carex depauperataCurtis ex Stokes (Cyperaceae), a new species for Portugal
Jan Jansen1, Jacob Koopman2
1Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Experimental Plant Ecology, Radboud
University Nijmegen P.O. Box 9100, 6500 GL Nijmegen, THE NETHERLANDS;
jan.jansen@science.ru.nl
2ul. Kochanowskiego 27, 73-200 Choszczno, POLAND; jackoopman@e-cho.pl
1. Novarum Flora Lusitana Commentarii
In memoriamA.R. Pinto da Silva (1912 ' 1992)
Introduction
On 23 May 2012 the first author found a to him unknown Carex in Portugal,
municipality of Guarda, village of Aldeia Viçosa. The locality is approximately
100 m south of the little chapel called Nossa Senhora do Carmo at an altitude
of c. 500 m and c. 50 m away from an old pigeon-house. The co-ordinates of the
site: UTM 29PTE 422 921. Det.: J. Jansen (RU, NL), W. Holverda (NHN, NL), Jac.
Koopman (Choszczno, PL), J. Capelo (LISFA, PT). Several specimens were growing
mostly in the shade of Laurus nobilis and quite near an already dried up brook.
Material is inserted in the National Herbarium Nederland (NHN), in the
herbarium of the Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária
(LISFA) and in the private herbarium of the second author.
Carex depauperata was found in an abandoned estate, at the fringe of a forest,
growing with several specimens in or at the bank of a nearly dried out riverbed
which was slightly altered to function as an irrigation channel. The tree layer
indicates the presence of the Galician-Portuguese oakwood association Rusco
aculeati-Quercetum roboris Br.-Bl., P. Silva & Rozeira 1955 em. Amigo,
Izco, J. Guitián & Romero 1998, according to the presence of adult
specimens of Quercus robur subsp. broteroana and a number of quite vital Laurus
nobilis specimens. At close distance but under drier and more sunny conditions
other oak tree species occur, mainly Cork oak (Quercus suber) and a few small
Pyrenean oak trees (Quercus pyrenaica).
Classification
Carex depauperata Curtis ex Stokes belongs to the subgenus Carex, having a
differentiated male spike at the top and a few female spikes lower in the
inflorescence. The flowers bear three stigmas. It is placed in its own section
Depauperatae Meinsh., indicating that it is not very closely related to other
Carex species.
Distribution
Carex depauperata occurs in most of the European countries and also in Central
Asia. According to KOOPMAN (2011) it has been found within Europe in: Ireland,
the United Kingdom, France (inclusive Corsica), Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland,
Germany, Italy (inclusive Sicily), Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina,
Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine,
Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia. It became probably extinct in Belgium at
the end of the 1970's.
At relatively short distance across the border with Spain, Carex depauperata
has been collected in the provinces Salamanca, Avila and Cáceres, more than
once growing under oak trees including Quercus pyrenaica, Q. faginea and Q.
rotundifolia (FERNÁNDEZ DÍEZ, 1979; LADERO, 1974; LUCEÑO, 1987).
LUCEÑO (1994) does not mention Carex depauperata for Portugal, nor does LUCEÑO
(2007). Obviously the species had never been found there, although it is rather
easy to recognize, so not easily to be overlooked.
Morphology
The specimens found in Portugal are rather tall and caespitose with long, more
or less overhanging flowering stems which bear a few lax female spikes and at
the top a male spike. The female spikes, with peduncles but not pendant, bear
only a few flowers 2-8, hence the name C. depauperata. The utricles have a
long, scabrid beak and the utricle body is prominently veined. The leaves, 2-
4 mm wide, are shorter than the stems, which can reach 1 m height. The basal
leaf sheaths are reddish-brown. It can hardly be mixed up with any other Carex.
