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CEGL002257 Carex utriculata - Carex stricta - Carex lacustris - Carex vesicaria Wet Meadow

Type Concept Sentence: This wet meadow alliance is found in the northeastern United States and Great Lakes region and is dominated by Carex lacustris, Carex vesicaria, and Carex utriculata. Sites are flooded or saturated for most of the growing season, and soils tend to be fine-textured with muck or sedge peat.

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Carex utriculata - Carex stricta - Carex lacustris - Carex vesicaria Wet Meadow

Colloquial Name: Laurentian-Acadian Sedge Meadow

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This northern tall sedge community is found in the mixed conifer - hardwood zone of the Great Lakes region and northeastern temperate North America. Sites are found on floodplains, shallow bays of lakes and streams, beaver meadows, ditches, and occasionally in isolated basins, or on semi-floating mats. Hydrology is seasonally to semipermanently flooded. Substrate is mineral soil or well-decomposed peat. Tall coarse-leaved sedges dominate the vegetation layer, often creating a tussocky hummock microtopography. Shrubs can cover up to 25% of the area. Pools with submergents may also be present. Dominant graminoids include a number of Carices, including Carex aquatilis, Carex lacustris, Carex lasiocarpa, Carex rostrata, Carex utriculata, Carex vesicaria, and locally Carex stricta. Other graminoids include Calamagrostis canadensis, Scirpus atrovirens, Scirpus cyperinus, and in wetter areas, Eleocharis palustris and Equisetum fluviatile. Forbs include Acorus calamus, Symphyotrichum lanceolatum var. lanceolatum, Campanula aparinoides, Eutrochium maculatum, Iris virginica var. shrevei, Lycopus uniflorus, Poa palustris, Polygonum amphibium, Comarum palustre, and others. Diagnostic features include the general dominance by coarse-leaved sedges, wet, somewhat peaty soil conditions, and the mix of subboreal herbs with more temperate herbs.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: Expansion of the range of this type eastward is based on the presence of Carex utriculata. Taxonomy and distribution of Carex utriculata versus Carex rostrata has been confused in the past. Gleason and Cronquist (1991), BONAP (2010), and FNA Editorial Committee (2002b) all treat Carex rostrata as circumboreal and extending southward to northern Michigan, Wisconsin and northern Minnesota (e.g., in Wisconsin Carex rostrata has been reported from extreme northern Wisconsin, on the Apostle Islands (E. Judziewicz pers. comm. 1999)). By contrast, Carex utriculata is boreal but extends south to Delaware, Indiana, Nebraska, New Mexico and California. (Carex vesicaria has a similar distribution to Carex utriculata). However, older atlases and floras in the Midwest (Voss 1972, Mohlenbrock and Ladd 1978, Ownbey and Morley 1991) only use Carex rostrata. Curtis (1959) suggested that differential species for northern sedge meadows in Wisconsin may be Symphyotrichum puniceum, Campanula aparinoides, Glyceria canadensis, Scirpus atrovirens, and Solidago uliginosa, among others, but this list needs further study. Carex stricta is restricted to eastern North American temperate and boreal regions. Currently, this type occurs in the northern parts of the Great Lakes region, i.e., north of the tension zone in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan (Curtis 1959), and extends northward and eastward in the Laurentian region of the United States and Canada, and southward into the Central Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions. Review is needed to see if the type should be split into a Laurentian type versus Central Appalachian - Mid-Atlantic type, with the latter having a distribution similar to ~Carex stricta - Carex vesicaria Wet Meadow (CEGL006412)$$.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: Tall coarse-leaved sedges dominate the vegetation layer, often creating a tussocky hummock microtopography. Shrubs can cover up to 25% of the area. Pools with submergents may also be present.

Floristics: Dominant graminoids include a number of Carices, including Carex aquatilis, Carex lacustris, Carex lasiocarpa, Carex utriculata, Carex vesicaria, and locally Carex stricta. Other graminoids include Calamagrostis canadensis, Carex rostrata, Scirpus atrovirens, Scirpus cyperinus, and in wetter areas, Eleocharis palustris (= Eleocharis smallii) and Equisetum fluviatile. Forbs include Acorus calamus, Symphyotrichum lanceolatum var. lanceolatum (= Aster simplex), Campanula aparinoides, Eutrochium maculatum (= Eupatorium maculatum), Iris virginica var. shrevei (= Iris shrevei), Lycopus uniflorus, Poa palustris, Polygonum amphibium, Comarum palustre (= Potentilla palustris), and others (Curtis 1959, Harris et al. 1996). Shrub associates include Cornus amomum, Cornus foemina, Cornus sericea, Physocarpus opulifolius, Rosa palustris, Spiraea alba, and Viburnum lentago (Cohen et al. 2015).

Dynamics:  Stands often have a fluctuating hydrology, leading in some years to fairly deep (>1 m) flooding and in other years to little or no flooding. Beavers can also increase flooding in these stands.
Environmental Description:  Sites are found on floodplains, shallow bays of lakes and streams, beaver meadows, ditches, and occasionally in isolated basins, or on semi-floating mats. Hydrology is seasonally to semipermanently flooded. Substrate is mineral soil or well-decomposed peat (Curtis 1959, Harris et al. 1996).
Geographic Range: This northern tall sedge community is found in the mixed conifer - hardwood zone of the Great Lakes and northeastern region of the United States and north into Canada, extending from Maine to Manitoba, south to Michigan. Its distribution eastward into Central Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions is unresolved.

Nations: CA,US

States/Provinces:  MB, ME, MI, MN, ND?, ON, QC?, SD, WI


Confidence Level: High

Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G4G5

Greasons: No Data Available
Type Name Database Code Classification Code
Class 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class C02 2
Subclass 2.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass S44 2.C
Formation 2.C.4 Temperate to Polar Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Formation F013 2.C.4
Division 2.C.4.Nd Eastern North American Temperate Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Division D323 2.C.4.Nd
Macrogroup 2.C.4.Nd.2 Broadleaf Cattail - White Snakeroot - Rush species Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Macrogroup M069 2.C.4.Nd.2
Group 2.C.4.Nd.2.g Laurentian-Acadian Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp G904 2.C.4.Nd.2.g
Alliance A4107 <i>Carex spp. - Calamagrostis canadensis</i> Northern Wet Meadow Alliance A4107 2.C.4.Nd.2.g
Association CEGL002257 <i>Carex utriculata - Carex stricta - Carex lacustris - Carex vesicaria</i> Wet Meadow CEGL002257 2.C.4.Nd.2.g
Concept Lineage: No Data Available

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: = Carex rostrata - Carex lacustris - (Carex vesicaria) Herbaceous Vegetation (Faber-Langendoen 2001) [Sedge Meadow Northern Subtype]
= Northern Sedge Meadow (Curtis 1959)
Concept Author(s): D. Faber-Langendoen (2001)

Author of Description: D. Faber-Langendoen

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 10-26-18
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