Carex vesicaria

Inflated sedge, Inflated Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Inflated sedge is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, central coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and North Coast Ranges in wet places and shallow water at elevations below 3,300 meters. Flowering from late spring to summer, this sedge produces gold to purple-tinged flower bracts in dense, angular clusters. Growing with sharp-angled stems 15 to 105 centimeters tall that are rough near the flower clusters, it forms dense tufts with short underground rhizomes. Its leaves are relatively narrow, measuring 1.8 to 6.5 millimeters wide, and typically shorter than the flowering stems. The plant produces distinctive inflated, green to brown fruit cases that are 1.7 to 2.3 millimeters long with short beaks and erect to slightly curved teeth.

Habitat: Wet places, shallow water

Elevation: < 3300 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, SNH, CCo, SnFrB, MP

California counties: Fresno, Alpine, El Dorado, Humboldt, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Inyo, Butte, Amador, Mono, Lassen, Madera, Calaveras, Del Norte, Lake, Marin, Santa Cruz

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