Carex amplifolia

Big-leaf sedge, Big-Leaf Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Big-leaf sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and Modoc Plateau in seasonally wet areas at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from late spring to early summer, this sedge produces green and brown spikelets with purple-tipped white-edged flower bracts. Growing with robust rhizomatous stems 50 to 100 centimeters tall and distinctively sharp three-winged stems, it forms dense clumps in moist habitats. Its leaves are broad, 8 to 23 millimeters wide, with distinctive small raised cross-walls and slightly hairy leaf sheaths. The fruit is a small, green and brown perigynia with a curved beak, approximately 1.3 to 2 millimeters long.

Habitat: Seasonally wet areas

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, SNH, CCo, SnFrB, MP

California counties: Sierra, San Bernardino, San Mateo, Del Norte, Fresno, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Sonoma, Shasta, El Dorado, Nevada, Kern, Santa Cruz, Tuolumne, Glenn, Napa, Butte, Modoc, Mariposa, Mendocino, Madera, Yuba, Colusa, Alpine, Placer, San Luis Obispo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.