Carex fracta

Fragile-sheathed sedge, Fragile-Sheathed Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Fragile-sheathed sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, southern Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in montane meadows, open forests, and moist or dry soil at elevations of 250 to 3,300 meters. Its inflorescence appears predominantly white or green, with dense clusters of spikelets 2.5 to 8 centimeters long. Growing with distinctive sedge-like form, the plant develops leafy stems with blades 2.5 to 6 millimeters wide and translucent leaf sheaths that are ribbed in the lower half. Its leaves feature a prominent contraligule typically 5 to 13 millimeters long, with pistillate flower bracts that are predominantly white with green to gold centers. The fruit is small, with pale green to gold perigynia that are ovate and planoconvex, measuring 1.2 to 1.6 millimeters long.

Habitat: Common. Montane meadows, open forests, edges, roadsides, moist or dry soil

Elevation: 250-3300 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SN, SCoRO, TR, PR

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Mariposa, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Tulare, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Mono, Monterey, Nevada, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Kern, Amador, Alpine, Sierra, Santa Barbara, Mendocino, Del Norte, Calaveras, Lassen, Madera, Ventura, Yuba, Glenn, Inyo, Sacramento

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