Carex hirta
Tracheophyta
›Magnoliopsida›Cyperaceae›Carex›Carex hirta
Ecology
Found in a wide variety of damp, grassy habitats, this rhizomatous perennial herb is particularly common in areas influenced by man: waste ground, tracksides, roadside verges and hedge-banks. It is also frequent, however, in rough grassland, hayfields, and occasionally sand dunes, marshes and damp, open woods. It avoids highly acidic, infertile soils. 0-470 m (Hartside, Cumberland).
Status
Native
Trends
The range and frequency of C. hirta are likely to have been stable over many years, and the distribution is similar to that mapped in the 1962 Atlas.
World Distribution
European Temperate element; widely naturalised outside its native range.
© P. Shannon
Rhydymwyn, vc50
© P. Shannon
Staveley, vc64
© P. Shannon
Staveley, vc64
© P. Shannon
Broad Habitats
Neutral grassland (includes coarse Arrhenatherum grassland)
Light (Ellenberg): 7
Moisture (Ellenberg): 7
Reaction (Ellenberg): 7
Nitrogen (Ellenberg): 6
Salt Tolerance (Ellenberg): 0
January Mean Temperature (Celsius): 3.7
July Mean Temperature (Celsius): 15
Annual Precipitation (mm): 963
Height (cm): 70
Perennation - primary
Perennial
Life Form - primary
Hemicryptophyte
Woodiness
Herbaceous
Clonality - primary
Rhizome far-creeping
Count of 10km squares in Great Britain: 1958
Count of 10km squares in Ireland: 576
Count of 10km squares in the Channel Isles: 10
Atlas Change Index: 0.17
Weighted Changed Factor: 30
Weighted Change Factor Confidence (90%)
15
JNCC Designations
NBNSYS0000002442