Carex schottii

Schott's sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Schott's sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in northern coastal California, San Francisco Bay Area, southern California, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in streambanks, wet meadows, and swamps at elevations below 2,500 meters. This sedge forms dense clumps with stems 75 to 150 centimeters tall, featuring leaf blades 4 to 12 millimeters wide with distinctive red-dotted leaf sheaths. Its complex inflorescence includes 2 to 7 staminate spikelets, with lateral spikelets up to 20 centimeters long and roughly 5 to 7 millimeters wide, often slightly nodding. Its leaves have basal sheaths that are scabrous in the back and fibrous, with bladeless sheaths wider than 7 millimeters at midlength. The fruit is golden to brown, with perigynia 2.7 to 4.5 millimeters long and a tiny beak less than half a millimeter in length.

Habitat: Streambanks, wet meadows, swamps

Elevation: < 2500 m

Bioregions: NCoRO, SnFrB, SCo, TR, PR.

California counties: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Orange, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Solano, San Benito, Alameda

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