Carex luzulina

Woodrush sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Woodrush sedge is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, central coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and Warner Mountains in wet meadows, seeps, creekbanks, and bogs at elevations of 800 to 3,200 meters. Its inflorescences feature lateral spikelets in shades of purple, with pistillate flower bracts generally red-brown to dark purple. Growing in dense tufts or with short rhizomes, the sedge produces stems 15 to 90 centimeters tall with brown bases. Its leaves are narrow, 1.5 to 10 millimeters wide, well developed on lower flowering stems. The fruit is distinctive, with perigynia 3.5 to 5.5 millimeters long in shades of green, red-brown, or dark purple, with ovate to lanceolate bodies and occasional sparse, soft hairs.

Habitat: Wet meadows, seeps, creekbanks, bogs

Elevation: 800-3200 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, SNH, CCo, SnFrB, Wrn

California counties: Plumas, Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Trinity, San Bernardino, El Dorado, Glenn, Marin, Siskiyou, Shasta, Nevada, Colusa, Sierra, Butte, Modoc, Inyo, Fresno, Humboldt, Del Norte, Mono, Tulare, Alpine, Lake, Tuolumne

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