FLORA OF ICELAND elements: Carex pilulifera, Pill Sedge, Dúnhulstrastör

Carex pilulifera; The Pill Sedge is a medium-sized sedge growing up to 40cm or less. The leaves are organized in cespitose basal tufts.
  - The leaves are dull green, flat. They are shorter than the culms. The stomata are on the bottom side.
  - The culms are slender. At the end of the vegetation cycle they tend to nod down (a bit). The inflorescence consists of one male spike on top with a few (2-4) female spikes concentrated just under the male spike. Sometimes an extra female spike is found just below the top section. The male spike is linear-elliptic in shape. The scales are brown with a hyaline edge and a light brown to green midrib. The apex is bluntly acute. The bract of the lowest female spike is shorter than the inflorescence. The female scales are similar in color, but have much sharper pointed apex's with a mid-vein nail. The female flowers have three stigmas. The utricles are globose and hairy. They have pronounced beaks.
  - It is common in some regions of Iceland but missing in other. It can be found in eastern Iceland and north-western, western and north-western regions of Iceland as well as some other locations in the north and south. It grows in dry grasslands (flat land and slopes).
  - The Pill Sedge (C. pilulifera) is a member of the sedge family (Cyperaceae). The Icelandic name of this species is Dúnhulstrastör.