Carex microptera

Small-winged sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Small-winged sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, and Great Basin in meadows and open forest at elevations of 1,500 to 3,400 meters. Its inflorescences are dense and green to dark brown, typically 12 to 25 millimeters long with spikelets that feature brown bracts often tinged with red, purple, or copper. Growing with erect stems 20 to 110 centimeters tall, this sedge has distinctive leaf blades 2 to 6 millimeters wide. Its leaf bracts are brown with pale centers, and the plant produces small fruits 1 to 1.6 millimeters long with ovate perigynia featuring green to light brown veins. The perigynia have a green, gold, or red-brown beak 1 to 1.5 millimeters long, which covers one-third to one-half of the fruit body.

Habitat: Common. Meadows, open forest

Elevation: 1500-3400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, SnBr, GB

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

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