Carex scopulorum var. bracteosa

Mountain sedge, Mountain Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mountain sedge is a California native perennial sedge found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Warner Mountains, and eastern Sierra Nevada in wet places at elevations of 1,200 to 3,400 meters. Producing dense, generally dark purple inflorescences, this sedge has thin flowering stems with distinctive brown or purple-dotted leaf sheaths. Growing with rhizomatous roots and thin stems 20 to 40 centimeters tall, it forms clustered clumps in moist alpine and montane habitats. Its leaf blades are 3 to 6 millimeters wide, with lateral spikes 8 to 30 millimeters long and generally erect. The fruit is small and dull, with ascending perianth segments typically purple above and measuring 2 to 4 millimeters long.

Habitat: Wet places

Elevation: 1200-3400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, Wrn, SNE (Sweetwater Mtns)

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

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