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Despite previous efforts to unify the terminology for Cyperaceae, two different terms, perigynium and utricle, are in common use for the prophyllar bract enclosing the female flower of Carex. Use of these terms is divided largely on geographic lines (mainly North American versus European and other authors, respectively). The recent merging of Kobresia with Carex requires a single term to refer to both the open prophyll of Kobresia and the laterally closed one of Carex. However, even when authors use utricle for Carex species, these same authors do not refer to the open prophyll of Kobresia as a utricle. We show that perigynium was apparently coined earlier than utricle, at the end of the 18th century, but the term utricle became more widespread than perigynium by the 20th century. Neither of the two terms is unambiguous, as both have also been used for other structures in other plant groups. Given this background, we propose revised definitions of both terms based on two facts: 1) the greater sem...

We present the first large-scale phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus Carex based on 996 of the 1983 accepted species (50.23%). We used a supermatrix approach using three DNA regions: ETS, ITS and matK. Every concatenated sequence was derived from a single specimen. The topology of our phylogenetic reconstruction largely agreed with previous studies. We also gained new insights into the early divergence structure of the two largest clades, core Carex and Vignea clades, challenging some previous evolutionary hypotheses about inflorescence structure. Most sections were recovered as non-monophyletic. Homoplasy of characters traditionally selected as relevant for classification, historical misunderstanding of how morphology varies across Carex, and regional rather than global views of Carex diversity seem to be the main reasons for the high levels of polyphyly and paraphyly in the current infrageneric classification.

Carex flava is a species complex with frequent hybridization. Within its Old World distribution, the group reaches the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and Macaronesia, where the taxonomy of the group is particularly controversial. We performed a biometric study using quantitative characters and statistical multivariate and univariate techniques to test taxonomic relationships within previously defined genetic lineages, and to study the clinal morphological variation between those lineages. Our analytical approach allowed us to clearly discriminate between five well-defined morphogroups (C. demissa s. s., C. flava, C. lepidocarpa, C. viridula and a fifth group composed of C. nevadensis and populations from the Atlas region) and to establish morphological relationships for problematic morphotypes. The Pyrenean-Cantabrian populations predominantly displayed intermediate morphologies between C. demissa and C. lepidocarpa. Conversely, the Atlantic-Iberian morphotype, considered a hybrid between C. dem...

Carex sect. Ceratocystis is distributed in Eurasia and North America, with a few disjunct taxa in the Southern Hemisphere. Despite being one of the most intensively studied groups within Carex, its taxonomy remains a complex issue due to hybridization and faint morphological boundaries. Two main contrasting approaches to its taxonomy may be distinguished, synthetic and analytical, widely differing in the number of considered taxa. The status of several morphotypes from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin are particularly problematic. We used phylogenetic analyses of nuclear ITS and plastid rps16 and 5′trnK sequences along with cytogenetic data to evaluate the main taxonomic approaches and to infer evolutionary patterns in Europe and North Africa, with a special focus on the problematic morphotypes. Three major clades were found which mostly match morphological features of the utricle. Carex durieui should be excluded from section Ceratocystis. Although a linear agmatoploid series has been generall...