Carex hystericina

Porcupine sedge, Porcupine Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.1

Porcupine sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges in wet places at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this sedge produces cream to white flowers with pale red centers in distinctive nodding spikelets. Growing with stems 15 to 100 centimeters tall, it spreads via short rhizomes and forms dense clusters in wet habitats. Its leaves have long ligules that distinctly extend beyond their width, with lower leaves featuring long, drooping stalks. The fruit develops as small green to gold perigynia with an ascending-spreading orientation, each bearing a short 2-millimeter beak with erect teeth.

Habitat: Wet places

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: KR

California counties: Trinity, Siskiyou, El Dorado, Lake

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