Carex hirtissima

Fuzzy sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Fuzzy sedge is a California native perennial found in northern Coast Ranges including Mendocino and Lake counties, northern Sierra Nevada, and California Ranges in mixed-evergreen forest openings and disturbed wet places, often on serpentine, at elevations of 60 to 1,200 meters. Though lacking specific flowering time data, this sedge features dense, loosely clustered growth with stems 30 to 60 centimeters tall that are sparsely hairy. Growing in loose tufts with dense leaf blades 3 to 12 millimeters wide, the plant exhibits a distinctive appearance with terminal spikelet clusters. Its leaves are densely hairy with minute basal structures, creating a soft, textured profile. The fruit features pale green to gold-green perigynia with fine veining and a white-tipped, conic beak 1 millimeter or longer.

Habitat: Openings, mixed-evergreen forest, disturbed wet places, often on serpentine

Elevation: 60-1200 m

Bioregions: NCoR (Mendocino, Lake cos.), CaR, n&ampc SN.

California counties: El Dorado, Yuba, Butte, Lake, Tuolumne, Nevada, Mendocino, Mariposa, Sierra, San Luis Obispo

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