Dulichium arundinaceum var. arundinaceum

Three-way sedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Three-way sedge is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, and Sierra Nevada in lake, pond, and stream margins, bogs, and wet meadows at elevations of 700 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from June to October, this sedge produces small green to brown flowers in spikes 6 to 30 centimeters long, with 3 to 10 flattened spikelets. Growing with long rhizomes and cylindric, hollow stems up to one meter tall, it forms dense clumps in wet environments. Its distinctive three-ranked leaves are flat, 0 to 15 centimeters long and 3 to 8 millimeters wide, with proximal leaves lacking blades. The fruit is a small yellow linear-ellipsoid structure 2 to 4 millimeters long, accompanied by 6 to 9 reflexed perianth bristles.

Habitat: Uncommon. Lake, pond stream margins, bogs, wet meadows, often emergent

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: 700-2400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, CaR, SN

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