Carex vulpinoidea
 
Fox Sedge

Several Shoots

21 km North on Fir River Road,
West of Hudson Bay
19-July-2018

Note the leaves are longer than the culms.

bullet

Vulpinoidea: Answers to key questions in Sedges (Carex) of Saskatchewan, Fascicle 3, Flora of Saskatchewan by Anna Leighton leading to this species. The answers are in the order you would normally work through the key. 
bullet

Stigmas 2; achenes lenticular. NOT [Stigmas 3; achenes three-sided, occasionally terete, though their shape may be concealed by flattened perigynia]

bullet

Spikes 2 or more per culm, terminal and lateral; spike bracts present on lateral spikes; lowest spike bracts usually evident, often conspicuous, even in compact heads composed of densely bunched and indistinguishable spikes (except in C. maritima, C. chordorrhiza and C. microptera).  NOT [Spikes 1 per culm, terminal; spike bracts absent]

bullet

Individual spikes distinguishable in an open inflorescence, or indistinguishable in a compact head; spikes in any one inflorescence alike in appearance due to their similar composition (i.e. all are gynecandrous, androgynous, pistillate or staminate), sessile.  NOT [Individual spikes distinguishable in an open inflorescence (densely bunched in C. bicolor); spikes in any one inflorescence either markedly different in appearance (with terminal spike staminate and lateral spikes pistillate), or subtly different in appearance (with terminal spike gynecandrous and lateral spikes pistillate), sessile or stalked.]

bullet

Culms loosely to densely cespitose (occasionally mat-forming rather than in discrete clumps); rhizomes, if present, usually short with culms arising close together along them. NOT [Culms single, or a few together, well-spaced along conspicuous rhizomes or stolons.]

bullet

Spikes androgynous, (lateral spikes occasionally pistillate in C. prairea); if heads have indistinguishable spikes, the heads are usually oblong to elongate in shape.  NOT [Spikes gynecandrous, (terminal spikes may be staminate in SK material of C. mackenziei; pistillate or staminate spikes occur in Sect. Stellulatae, a group distinguished by spongy tissue filling lower one-third to one-half of the perigynium); if heads have indistinguishable spikes, the heads are usually +/- as wide as they are long and usually widest in middle or toward base.]

bullet

Spikes usually more numerous, mostly overlapping, and in some species indistinguishable in a simple or compound inflorescence; beak 0.3 mm long or longer.  NOT [Spikes 2-5, widely spaced along 1.5-3 cm of culm with only upper few clustered at tip; beak a tiny tube less than 0.25 mm long.]

bullet

Inflorescence usually larger, if less than 2 cm long then leaves 2 mm wide or wider; culms in most species over 3 dm high.  NOT [Inflorescence small, 0.7-1.5 (2) cm long and to 0.7 cm wide, compact with indistinguishable spikes; leaves 0.5-1 mm wide; culms (0.4) 0.6-2.6 (4) dm high.]

bullet

Perigynia body not translucent; lateral margins of perigynia not conspicuously green-margined except along beak in some species.  NOT [Perigynia body +/- translucent with brown achene showing through walls; lateral margins of perigynia green and conspicuous.]

bullet

Distal portion of culm 0.5-1 mm wide (to 2 mm wide in C. vulpinoidea), firmly three-angled, not easily flattened; culm angles not winged.  NOT [Distal portion of culm 1.5-4 (7) mm wide, soft, easily flattened under pressure; culm angles with wide, flat wings.]

bullet

Leaves 3 or 4 mm wide at most; dorsal (abaxial) surface of lower leaf sheaths not conspicuously green and white striped, if septate-nodulose then partitions between veins faint; plants more widely distributed.  NOT [Leaves 3-5 (8 fna) mm wide; dorsal (abaxial) surface of lower leaf sheaths conspicuously striped with longitudinal green veins against a white background and septate-nodulose with prominent partitions between veins; plants of moist, shady sites in southeastern SK.]

bullet

Bristle-like bracts visible throughout inflorescence, lower bracts 0.5-6 (13) cm long, often as long as or longer than inflorescence; leaves longer than culms; pistillate scales with awns 1-5 mm long; ventral strip rugose with thickened edge at summit.  NOT [Only lower bracts clearly visible, these to a maximum length of 1.5 cm; leaves shorter than or equal to culms; pistillate scales acute, acuminate or occasionally mucronate, not awned; ventral strip neither rugose nor thickened at summit.  Section Heleoglochin (C. prairea, C. diandra).]