Spikes:

Separate staminate (male) and pistillate (female) spikes, with a single staminate spike 1/3 to about ¾ inch long at the top of the stem. Below the staminate spike are usually 3 (occasionally 4) cylindric, erect to ascending, all-pistillate spikes each up to ¾ inch long, the uppermost 1 or 2 stalkless or short-stalked, typically crowding the staminate spike and sometimes over-topping it. Lower pistillate spikes are longer stalked and arise singly from the nodes on the upper half of the stem. Pistillate spikes each have a leaf-like bract at the base of the stalk that over-tops the terminal spike, the longest bract 6+ inches long; the uppermost bract is much shorter and narrower than the lower bracts.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are basal and alternate, 2.5 to 15 mm wide, erect to floppy, often over-topping the flowering stem. Stem leaf sheaths loosely wrap the stem and are papery, translucent whitish; bract sheaths are rough along the edges from minute serrations. The ligule (membrane where the leaf joins the sheath) is longer than wide. Leaves are hairless, M-shaped in cross-section when young, and have a prominent, raised midrib on the underside.

Bases are wrapped in a green to brown sheath that is not fibrous. Stems are slender, 3-sided and slightly winged along the angles, hairless but rough in the upper plant, ascending to sprawling, rarely erect, and may elongate up to 20 inches at maturity. Not all plants produce flowering stems. Plants typically form dense clumps.

Fruit:

Fruit develops in spring through early summer, the pistillate spikes forming clusters of seeds (achenes), each wrapped in a casing (perigynium), subtended by a scale. Pistillate spikes have 4 to 18 fruits, the perigynia ascending, overlapping and somewhat crowded on the spike.

Pistillate scales are lance-oblong, whitish with a green midrib, pointed at the tip or the midrib extending to a rough-textured awn up to 1.5 mm long, and mostly shorter than the perigynia though the awn sometimes extends beyond it. Perigynia are green to yellowish-green, 2.5 to 4 mm long, 1.3 to 2.2 mm wide, 2 ribbed and many-veined (best seen when dry), hairless, inflated, asymmetrically urn-shaped, tapering to a spongy base with an abrupt taper to a short, toothless beak that is a bit off-center and usually strongly bent. Achenes are 2.1 to 3.2 mm long, weakly 3-sided in cross-section, oval-elliptic in outline.

Notes:

Carex blanda is a common sedge of upland woods but is found in a wide range of soil types and moisture levels, and may spread aggressively in disturbed, shaded soils.

Carex is a large genus, with over 600 species in North America and 150+ in Minnesota alone. They are grouped into sections, the species in each group having common traits. Carex blanda is in the Laxiflorae section; some of its common traits are: usually densely clump forming, short to long rhizomatous, stems slightly winged along the angles, basal sheaths brown or purple and not fibrous, leaves M-shaped in cross-section when young, leaves hairless, widest leaves 5+ mm, 3 to 6 spikes, terminal spike all staminate, lateral spikes all pistillate, lateral spikes subtended by a long-sheathing leaf-like bract, perigynia hairless, generally urn-shaped and tapering to a spongy base, distinctly 8+ veined and abruptly beaked, achenes 3-sided with 3 stigmas, usually growing in woodlands.

Carex blanda is distinguished from other Carex species by the combination of: clump forming, usually densely so, slightly winged stems, basal sheaths green to brown, leaves 2.5 to 15 mm wide, bract sheaths minutely serrated along the edges, usually 4 spikes, terminal spike all staminate, the uppermost 1 or 2 pistillate spikes crowding the staminate spike and may over-top it, perigynia asymmetrical, usually 3 to 4 mm long with 20+ prominent veins (best seen when dry), a short beak that is strongly bent, weakly 3-sided achenes.

C. blanda resembles several other sedges, most notably members of the Griseae section, which have indented veins on mature perigynia where C. blanda veins are raised, and the Granulares section, Carex granularis in particular, which has pistillate spikes up to 1½ inches long, periginia more rounded at the base, fewer and less conspicuous veins, beaks straight to bent, most often found in open habitats, and has sheaths, perigynia and scales often red spotted or streaked. C. blanda is differentiated from other members of the Laxiflorae section by having perigynia with 20+ veins arranged more crowded on the spikes and rough upper stems, where others are more loosely arranged with fewer veins and may have smooth upper stems.