Carex aurea

Golden sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Golden sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Modoc Plateau, northern eastern Sierra Nevada, White and Inyo Mountains, and desert mountains in wet meadows and streambanks at elevations of 1,100 to 3,300 meters. Distinctive for its unique bright orange mature fruit, this sedge produces spikes with mixed staminate and pistillate flowers. Growing with narrow leaves 2 to 4 millimeters wide, it forms erect to nodding lateral spikes 4 to 20 millimeters long. Its leaves have inflorescence bracts with U-shaped sheaths exceeding 4.5 millimeters in length. The fruit develops as small spheric perigynia 1.3 to 2 millimeters long, maturing from green or white to a striking bright orange color.

Habitat: Wet meadows, streambanks

Elevation: 1100-3300 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, NCoRI, CaR, SNH, TR, MP, n SNE (Bodie), W&ampI, DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, Mono, Tulare, Inyo, Los Angeles, Butte, Fresno, Glenn, Modoc, Plumas, Tehama, Trinity, Humboldt, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Madera, Lassen, Alpine, Tuolumne, Santa Clara, Ventura, Placer, Nevada, Mariposa, Shasta, Lake, Napa, Yuba, Colusa, Sierra

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