Hays Creek Estuary/ --- Sedge Association

Carex lynbyei

The sedge is mostly sterile -- some authors claim so heavily grazed by deer who eat the seeds-- Or it may be that plants put all their energy into vegetative reproduction via new plants started by stolons at the ground layer.

Carex lynbyei is the most common shoreline sedge. Above it looks (and smelled) as if the deer were bedding down here at night (the matted area).

I tentatively base the species identification on the "seed heads" perigynia (right)

Said to be a pioneer species on mudflats and good forage for geese and bears-- and deer?

A = Vaucheria-- a mat of Xanthophyte algae that binds the soil
B= Puccinellia grass (turf)
C= Sedges forming carpets
D= Silverweed beds upper mudflat perennials
E= Algal mats (when they can escape the fast currents)
Mya Arenaria soft shelled Clam (burrowing in mud habitat)