Carex feta

Green-sheathed sedge, Green-Sheathed Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Green-sheathed sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, Sierra Nevada, San Francisco Bay Area, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and Modoc Plateau in meadows, streambanks, open forests, and seeps at elevations of 30 to 3,100 meters. Producing white-green to pale gold inflorescences with distinct spikelets, this sedge has distinctive green-ribbed leaf sheaths with a thin white triangular area near the top. Growing erect with stems supporting leaf blades 2.5 to 5 millimeters wide, it forms clumps without spreading by stolons. Its leaf sheaths feature a thin white area extending less than 6 millimeters below the top, with a contraligule 4 to 8 millimeters long. The fruit develops in ovate to wide-ovate perigynia, pale green to gold with a flat margin and a short cylindric beak.

Habitat: Meadows, streambanks, open forest, seeps, damp or wet soil

Elevation: 30-3100 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, n SNF, SNH, SnFrB, SnBr, PR, MP

California counties: Butte, Fresno, Humboldt, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Lake, San Bernardino, Sonoma, Amador, Trinity, Madera, Calaveras, Kern, Mendocino, Stanislaus, Del Norte, Napa, Marin, Santa Clara, Tehama, Lassen, Yuba, Tulare, Sierra, Colusa, San Joaquin, Modoc, San Diego, Riverside, Sacramento

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