Carex breweri
Brewer's sedge
Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Brewer's sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, White and Inyo Mountains, and high Cascade Range in dry gravelly to sandy open areas at elevations of 2,000 to 3,900 meters. Its inflorescences feature distinctive wide-conic spikes with gold-brown to black flower bracts that have white margins. Growing with slender rhizomatous stems 10 to 25 centimeters tall, the plant produces narrow, quill-like leaves that are rolled and less than one millimeter wide. The leaves are shorter than the inflorescence, creating a delicate, compact growth form with thin, flat perigynia spreading 4 to 7 millimeters long. Its fruits are small, three-sided, and nestled next to a bristle-like axis, with perigynia ascending in gold-brown tones.
Habitat: dry gravelly to sandy open areas
Elevation: 2000-3900 m
Bioregions: CaRH, SNH, W&I
California counties: Fresno, Mono, Madera, Mariposa, Siskiyou, Tulare, Tuolumne, Inyo, El Dorado, Tehama, Shasta, Lassen, Amador
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.