Carex exsiccata

Western inflated sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Western inflated sedge is a California native perennial found in northern coastal, southern Klamath Range, central coastal, and San Francisco Bay Area regions in wet places at elevations below 1,800 meters. With limited flowering time details, the plant produces gold to purple-tinged bracts surrounding its inflorescence. Growing with sharp-angled stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall that are rough near the flower clusters, it develops short or absent rhizomes. Its leaves are 2.5 to 6.2 millimeters wide, with fibrous leaf sheaths on lower stems and ligules longer than they are wide. The fruits are small, measuring 1.7 to 3 millimeters long, with perigynia arranged in open rows and tapering to a short beak.

Habitat: Wet places

Elevation: < 1800 m

Bioregions: NCo, s KR, CCo, SnFrB

California counties: Mendocino, Sonoma, Del Norte, Humboldt, Marin, San Mateo, Trinity, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Plumas, Siskiyou, El Dorado

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