Sedges: Carex is the fourteenth vol­ume of the Illustrated Flora of Illinois series and the sixth and last volume devoted to monocots—plants that have a single seed leaf, or coty­ledon, upon germination.
 
Since the volume’s original publica­tion in 1999, thirty-four additional species of plants have been recog­nized in Illinois. Some are discover­ies from recent field work, some are from more thorough searches of herbaria, and others are from differ­ent taxonomic philosophies.
 
For each species of Carex in Illinois, there is a full illustration showing the habit of the plant and close-ups of various vegetative and reproduc­tive structures that are crucial for the identification of the individual species. There is also a complete description of each species as well as a detailed discussion of the no­menclature and habitats. Range maps show the county distribution of each species in Illinois. A new and detailed key is provided for identification of the species.

Robert H. Mohlenbrock taught botany at Southern Illinois University Carbondale for thirty-four years. Since his retirement in 1990, he has served as senior scientist for Biotic Consultants, teaching wetland identification classes around the country. Among his more than sixty books are Vascular Flora of Illinois and Field Guide to U.S. National Forests.

 “The Illustrated Flora of Illinois is a major contribution to our understanding of the plant life of the state in that it provides keys, descriptions, and illustrations of Carex, a taxonomically difficult group. Beginning in 1967, Robert Mohlenbrock has provided a consistent high-quality product in this series. The author’s knowledge of sedges is superb. . . . The illustrations are exceptionally well drawn and uniform throughout the text. The consistent illustration of the critical features of each species (i.e., habit, pistillate scale, perigynium, and achene) makes comparison and identification of species very easy. This is very important in a group such as the sedges in which species determinations are based on minute characteristics not easily described.”—Richard Wunderlin, author of Guide to the Vascular Flora of Central Florida