Culms 2-12 cm × (0.2-)0.3-0.5 mm. Leaves 1-3 cm × 0.3-0.6 mm; longest involucral leaf ± erect. Inflorescences: spikes 1-2(-3), ovoid (to globose), 1-5(-6) × 1-2 mm, not bristly; bracts 1-2, longest erect, 0.5-2 cm × 0.3-0.5 mm. Spikelets: floral scales 2; 1st scale light brown to reddish brown, with greenish midvein, obtrullate, 0.9-1.3 × 0.3-0.6 mm, widest above mid length, long-acuminate; 2d scale reddish brown distally, with 2-4 reddish veins, oblong, 0.5-0.8 × 0.2 mm; 3d scale absent; stamen 1; anther 0.2 mm; stigmas 2. Achenes obovoid, terete, 0.5-0.75 × 0.25-0.35 mm, 1.5-2.5 times long as wide.

Fruiting late summer-early fall. Emergent shorelines, usually sandy soils; 0-1200 m; Ariz., Ark., Ill., Ind., Kans., Mo., Nebr., N.Mex., Ohio, Okla., Tex., Wis.

Annual herb, tufted 2 - 12 cm tall

Leaves: basal, 1 - 3 cm long, to about 0.5 mm wide, linear, parallel-veined, with a sheathing base that encloses the stem.

Inflorescence: a terminal, egg-shaped cluster of one to two spikes, 1 - 5 mm long, 1 - 2 mm wide, subtended by leaf-like bracts. Bracts one to two, longest upright, 0.5 - 2 cm long, to 0.5 mm wide. Spikes composed of numerous spikelets.

Flowers: minute, subtended by a floral scale, lacking sepals and petals, with one or two scales. Stamen one, exserted. Pistil one. Style linear, two- to three-cleft.

Fruit: a one-seeded achene, 0.5 - 0.75 mm long, about 0.25 mm wide, 1.5 to 2.5 times as long as wide, reverse egg-shaped, circular in cross-section. Seed with a thin, non-adherent wall.

Culm: 2 - 12 cm long, to 0.5 mm wide, circular in cross-section, solid.

Spikelets: bearing two floral scales. First scale light brown to reddish brown with a greenish midrib, about 1 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, more or less diamond-shaped (but widest above the middle), long-pointed. Second scale reddish brown above with two to four reddish veins, about 0.5 mm long and 0.2 mm wide, oblong.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: August to October

Habitat and ecology: Rare in the Chicago Region. Found in wet, sandy soil.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Lipocarpha comes from the Greek words lipos, meaning fat, and carphos, meaning chaff, referring to the inner scale thickness of some species. Drummondii is named after Thomas Drummond, a 19th century Scottish naturalist.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Found only in wet sand on the borders of sloughs or in sloughs when dried up, in wet, interdunal flats in the dune area, and in a dredged ditch in Newton County.

Common Name: Drummond's halfchaff sedge

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Graminoid

General: Tufted annual, not rhizomatous with solitary terete stems 2-12 cm by 0.5 mm thick.

Vegetative: Leaves basal, with the lower bladeless or with an involute appendage, upper with distinct glabrous blade 1-3 cm long by 0.3-0.6 mm wide, the longest involucral leaf more or less erect.

Inflorescence: Terminal spikes 1-2, ovoid to globose, 1-5 mm by 1-2 mm, not bristly with 1-2 bracts, the longest of these erect, 0.5-2 cm by 0.5 mm wide; the spikelets made of 2 floral scales, the first light brown to reddish brown, with greenish midvein, with widest axis above the middle and with no straight margins, widest above midlength; second scale reddish brown above with 2-4 reddish veins, oblong, 0.5 mm by 0.2 mm wide, third scale absent; achenes obovoid, terete, 0.5-0.75 mm by 0.25-0.35 mm, 1.5-2.5 times long as wide.

Ecology: Found on emergent shorelines in sandy soils to 4,000 ft (1219 m); flowers August-September.

Notes: Very similar to L. aristulata, can be distinguished by the outer scale being widest from the tip to the midlength, with the second scale reddish brown above. Advice- Take a specimen and get a scope. Prognosis- Not a good chance it is here, but you never know.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Lipocarpha comes from Greek leipo, meaning to be deficient or wanting, and karphos for chip of straw, while drummondii is named for Thomas Drummond (1790-1835) a Scottish naturalist.

Synonyms: Hemicarpha drummondii, Hemicarpha micrantha var. drummondii, Scirpus micranthus var. drummondii

Editor: SBuckley, 2010