Carex fecunda Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 2: 194 (1855)

Jimenez-Mejias, Pedro, Morales-Alonso, Ana, Oleas, Nora H, Sanchez, Enmily, Martin-Bravo, Santiago, Masa-Iranzo, Irene & S. Meseguer, Andrea, 2023, New relevant chorological and conservation data on Carex (Cyperaceae) and Hypericum (Hypericaceae) from Ecuador, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 99603-99603 : 99603

Carex fecunda Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 2: 194 (1855)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: 57ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS) ; recordNumber: 57; recordedBy: A. Morales Alonso, P. Jiménez Mejías & I. Masa Iranzo; occurrenceID: 57ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS); Taxon: scientificName: Carex fecunda Steud.; Location : country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Azuay; locality: National Park Cajas ; verbatimLocality: Laguna de Llaviucu ; verbatimElevation: 3156 m; locationRemarks: Azuay. Laguna de Llaviucu , Parque Nacional Cajas , 02°05.6385'S 079°08.9762'W, 3156 m, pastizales húmedos en el borde de laguna; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: P. Jiménez-Mejías; dateIdentified: 2022; Event: eventDate: Jul-31-2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Taxon discussion

A South American endemic previously reported from the Central Andes, from Peru to northern Argentina. It belongs to the problematic sect. Fecundae (subg. Fecundae Carex ), a group of sedges entirely diversified within the Neotropic and one of the only two groups of Carex exclusively distributed in tropical-subtropical areas (the other sect. Carex Indicae , see above).

This is the first record for Ecuador and the new northernmost limit for the species. The Ecuadorian specimen had the unusual feature of emitting a profound citric scent from the leaves and stems when crushed that persisted after drying. This aromatic property is known from other sedge groups (e.g. Cyperus odoratus L., C. sesquiflorus (Torr.) Mattf. & Kük.), but it has not been previously reported in Carex , including other fresh or dry C. fecunda specimens (P. Jiménez-Mejías, pers. obs.). This may indicate some differences with respect to other more southern C. fecunda populations and deserves further study.