Carex fissuricola

Cleft sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Cleft sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in mountain meadows and rocky streamsides at elevations of 1,500 to 3,300 meters. Flowering in summer, this plant produces terminal spikelets with purple to brown lateral spikelets that nod gracefully on long stalks. Growing in dense clumps with stems 50 to 80 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive clustered colonies in alpine habitats. Its leaf blades are 3 to 8 millimeters wide, with pistillate flower bracts featuring brown or dark purple coloration and hairy margins. The fruit is characterized by ascending perigynia that are red-brown or purple, with sparse bristly surfaces and a short 0.8 to 2 millimeter beak.

Habitat: Meadows, rocky streamsides

Elevation: 1500-3300 m

Bioregions: SNH

California counties: Mono, Tulare, Fresno, Placer, Inyo, San Bernardino, Nevada, Madera, Tuolumne, Sierra, Trinity, Mariposa, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Alpine

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