Carex

Sedge

About plant names...

The Carex genus, part of the sedge family (Cyperaceae), comprises over 2000 species, many of which are very difficult to distinguish. Sedges resemble grasses and rushes, and have grasslike leaves. The stems of most sedges are angular, usually triangular, in cross section. The reproductive structures generally look quite striking, unlike most grasses and flowers. They may appear as long thin columns, or spiky “corncobs,” or compact blobs with sharp-edged protuberances—even “cotton balls.” Their leaves tend to have zigzag or U-shaped cross sections. If you get really interested in sedges, you’ll need to master some specialized terminology, and you will find a hand lens or scanner to be of great value. I find them to be more fun to identify than many grasses.

Many of the Carex IDs presented on this site are uncertain at this stage. Those on this page are not yet identified.

Online References:

Carex on CalPhotos

Carex on Wikipedia

Carex on the USDA Plants Database

Carex on eFloras

References:

Arsenault, Matt; Mittelhauser, Glen H.; Cameron, Don; Dibble, Alison C.; Haines, Arthur; Rooney, Sally C.; and Weber, Jill E., Sedges of Maine: A Field Guide to Cyperaceae, University of Maine Press, 2013

Wilson, Barbara L.; Brainerd, Richard; Lytjen, Danna; Newhouse, Bruce; and Otting, Nick, of the Carex Working Group, Field Guide to the Sedges of the Pacific Northwest, Carex Working Group, 2008

Knobel, Edward, Field Guide to the Grasses, Sedges and Rushes of the United States, Dover Publications Inc., 1980

(Carex) · 6/30/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 6 × 4" (15 × 10 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 7 × 4½" (17 × 11 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/4/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Ayer, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 9 × 14" (23 × 35 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/2/2010 · J. Harry Rich State Forest, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 15 × 11" (39 × 26 cm) Species not yet identified

Carex description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

© FloraFinder.org. All rights reserved.

(Carex) · 6/21/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 11 × 7" (27 × 18 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 9 × 6" (22 × 14 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/1/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 6 × 7" (14 × 18 cm) Species not yet identified

Sedge (Carex) · 4/28/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 12 × 9" (30 × 23 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/1/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 7 × 8" (18 × 20 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/1/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 5 × 3½" (12 × 9.8 cm) Species not yet identified

(Carex) · 6/4/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Ayer, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 12 × 8" (31 × 20 cm) Species not yet identified