Carex simulata

Short-beaked or analog sedge, Short-Beaked Or Analog Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Short-beaked sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California mountains, Sierra Nevada, central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and Great Basin in moist soil habitats at elevations up to 3,300 meters. Flowering during spring and early summer, this sedge produces brown spikelets with white-margined bracts in dense clusters 1.2 to 3.5 centimeters long. Growing with long dark brown rhizomes and slender stems, it forms delicate clumps with narrow leaves 2 to 5 millimeters wide. Its leaves have fragile sheaths often marked with a distinctive brown stripe, and the plant frequently grows in dioecious clusters. The fruit is small and shiny, with brown perigynia measuring 1.1 to 2.3 millimeters long and featuring subtle surface veins.

Habitat: Moist soil

Elevation: < 3300 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, SNH, CCo, SnFrB, GB

California counties: El Dorado, Madera, Alpine, Fresno, Marin, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Tulare, Inyo, Sonoma, Tuolumne, Shasta, Kern, Plumas, Sierra, Modoc, Lassen, Butte, Mendocino, Tehama, San Francisco, Mariposa

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