Carex lenticularis var. impressa

Tarn sedge, Tarn Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Tarn sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Warner Mountains in wet places at elevations of 1,200 to 3,000 meters. Its fruiting bodies feature distinctive purple-dotted perigynia in the upper half, creating a unique visual texture. Growing with slender stems, this sedge forms delicate clumps in alpine and subalpine wetland environments. Its sedge-like leaves cluster around stems with fine, grass-like structure. The fruit is small, approximately 1 to 1.4 millimeters long, with a slightly purple-tinted beak that adds subtle visual interest to the plant's delicate form.

Habitat: Wet places

Elevation: 1200-3000 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRH, SNH, Wrn

California counties: Nevada, Plumas, Inyo, Fresno, El Dorado, Mariposa, Mono, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Amador, Colusa, Humboldt, Kern, Shasta, Del Norte, Modoc, Alpine, Madera, Sierra, Lake, Butte, Lassen, Glenn, Placer

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