Carex mendocinensis

Mendocino sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mendocino sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in northern coastal California, including the Klamath Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, and central western California in moist areas, often on serpentine landscapes at elevations of 150 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from spring to summer, this sedge produces pale green to gold or red-brown spikelets with distinctively colored bracts. Growing in dense tufts with nodding stems 25 to 80 centimeters tall, it develops characteristic reddish or red-dotted leaf sheaths. Its narrow leaves measure 1.5 to 5.5 millimeters wide, with sparse hairs near the base and glabrous blades. The fruit is small, roughly 1.7 to 2.5 millimeters long, with a short beak and loosely enclosing perigynia in green, gold, or pale brown tones.

Habitat: Moist areas, often serpentine

Elevation: 150-1600 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRO, n SNH (Plumas Co.), CW (exc SCoRI)

California counties: Mendocino, Del Norte, San Luis Obispo, Humboldt, Marin, Monterey, Trinity, Sonoma, El Dorado, Yuba, Siskiyou, Plumas, Shasta, Santa Clara

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