Carex echinata subsp. echinata

Star sedge, Star Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Star sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and San Bernardino Mountains in wet places, especially sphagnum bogs at elevations up to 3,200 meters. Its distinctive fruit clusters give the plant its name, with fine, narrow leaves typically 0.7 to 2.7 millimeters wide. Growing with delicate, clustered stems, this sedge forms compact tufts in moist mountain environments. Its leaf blades are slender and fine, creating a soft, feathery appearance in wetland habitats. The fruit is roughly round, approximately 1.1 to 1.6 millimeters long, with a serrated perimeter that adds textural complexity to its small-scale structure.

Habitat: Wet places, especially sphagnum bogs

Elevation: < 3200 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, CaRH, SNH, SnBr

California counties: Mendocino, Butte, Fresno, Siskiyou, Tulare, San Bernardino, Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Plumas, Tehama, Santa Cruz, Calaveras, Trinity, Mariposa, Inyo, Tuolumne, Kern, Yuba, Sierra, Nevada, Shasta, Madera, Lassen, Alpine

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