Carex barbarae

Whiteroot or santa barbara sedge, Whiteroot Or Santa Barbara Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Whiteroot is a California native perennial sedge found in the Klamath Ranges, northern and central Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada foothills, Central Valley, central Coast, southern California, Santa Cruz Island, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in seasonally wet places at elevations below 1,000 meters. Its stem base ranges from brown to purple, with leaf blades 3.5 to 9 millimeters wide and distinctive red-dotted sheaths that are dark copper or purple near the tips. Growing in dense clumps with complex lateral spikelets 2.5 to 8 centimeters long and 5 to 8 millimeters wide, this sedge develops brown spikelets with staminate or pistillate tips. Its leaves feature distinctive red-dotted sheaths that are generally fibrous on lower portions, creating a rich textural appearance. The fruit develops as small, brown structures with thick, tough perigynia that spread out and feature slightly notched tips with bristly teeth.

Habitat: Seasonally wet places

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRF, SNF, c SNH, GV, CW, SCo, n ChI (Santa Cruz Island), WTR, PR

California counties: Sonoma, Fresno, Los Angeles, Butte, Humboldt, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Alameda, Colusa, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, San Bernardino, Merced, Napa, Tulare, Santa Clara, Solano, Yolo, San Mateo, Stanislaus, Sacramento, Nevada, Amador, El Dorado, Calaveras, Sutter, Madera, Trinity, Kern, Kings, Modoc, Shasta, Lassen, Glenn, Tehama, Yuba, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Del Norte

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