Carex vernacula

Foetid sedge, Foetid Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Foetid sedge is a California native perennial found in the high Sierra Nevada, Warner Mountains, eastern Sierra Nevada, and White and Inyo Mountains in open, often rocky areas wet from snow-melt at elevations of 1,800 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from late spring to summer, this sedge forms dense clusters with small, dark brown spikelets featuring narrow white-tipped bracts. Growing with loosely clustered stems 5 to 30 centimeters tall, it spreads through underground rhizomes in alpine and subalpine environments. Its narrow leaves measure 1.5 to 3.5 millimeters wide, growing shorter than the dense inflorescence. The fruit is small and ovate, with a well-defined beak and brown perigynia often edged in green.

Habitat: Open, often rocky areas wet from snow-melt

Elevation: 1800-4000 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH, Wrn, SNE (Sweetwater Mtns), W&ampI

California counties: Fresno, Madera, Inyo, Alpine, Mono, Tulare, El Dorado, Shasta, Tuolumne, Nevada, Modoc, Amador, Sierra, Butte, Tehama, Calaveras, Mariposa, Siskiyou

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