Carex athrostachya

Long-bracted sedge, Long-Bracted Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Long-bracted sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and Great Basin in seasonally moist meadows and marshes at elevations of 400 to 3,200 meters. Its inflorescences are dense green to light brown clusters 15 to 22 millimeters long with distinctive ascending lower bracts. Growing with narrow leaves 1.5 to 4 millimeters wide, this sedge forms compact clumps with erect stems. Its leaves have narrow blades that wrap slightly around the stem base, with subtle leaf-like characteristics. The fruit is small, approximately 1.1 to 1.7 millimeters long, with a green to light brown perigynia that has delicate, weak veins.

Habitat: Common. Seasonally moist meadows, marshes

Elevation: 400-3200 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRH, SNH, SnBr, SnGb, PR, GB

California counties: Modoc, Marin, San Bernardino, Trinity, Tuolumne, Butte, Los Angeles, Alpine, Amador, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Mono, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tulare, Inyo, Riverside, Ventura, Sonoma, Placer, Kern, Shasta, Del Norte, Calaveras, Glenn, Tehama, Colusa, San Diego, Sacramento

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