Carex angustata

Narrow-leaved sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Narrow-leaved sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high North Coast, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in wet meadows and streambanks at elevations of 300 to 2,300 meters. Flowering with pistillate spikelets 2 to 7 centimeters long, this sedge produces green and purple-tinged spikes. Growing with rhizomatous stems less than 1 meter tall, it forms dense stands with prominent lower stem sheaths that are scabrous and sometimes bearing reddish prickles. Its leaves have blades 2 to 7 millimeters wide, with bladeless sheaths that are notably fibrous on lower stems. The fruit is small, measuring 1 to 1.5 millimeters long with a short 0.2 to 0.5 millimeter beak.

Habitat: Wet meadows, streambanks

Elevation: 300-2300 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, MP

California counties: Butte, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tulare, Calaveras, Humboldt, Modoc, Nevada, Tehama, Sierra, Placer, Shasta, Colusa, Tuolumne, Lassen, Alameda, El Dorado, Trinity, Fresno, Del Norte, Lake, Yuba, Glenn, Santa Barbara, Mariposa

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