Carex gracilior

Slender sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Slender sedge is a California native perennial found in northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, central western California, northwestern southern California, and western Transverse Ranges in grasslands, creekbanks, and open forests at elevations below 850 meters. Flowering from spring to summer, this sedge produces gold to red-brown flowers in open inflorescences 12 to 30 millimeters long. Growing with self-supporting stems and narrow leaves 1.2 to 3 millimeters wide, it forms delicate clumps in moist habitats. Its leaves feature a small ligule 1.5 to 2 millimeters long and distinctive gold to red-brown bracts surrounding the pistillate flowers. The fruit is small, approximately 1.7 to 2.3 millimeters long, with a shiny, narrow-ovate perigynia marked by gold coloration and a brown margin.

Habitat: Grassland, creekbanks, open forest, at least seasonally moist soil

Elevation: < 850 m

Bioregions: NCoRO, CaR, n SN, ScV, CW (exc SCoRI), nw SCo, w WTR.

California counties: Butte, San Mateo, Sonoma, Alameda, Marin, Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Yuba, Santa Barbara, Kern, Nevada, Calaveras, Humboldt, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, Shasta, Contra Costa, Trinity, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Tehama, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz

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