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Yellow sedge

Carex flava

Also called Large Yellow-sedge, Yellow Green Sedge

Yellow sedge
Photo: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0

Carex flava is a clump-forming, grass-like perennial sedge native to cool temperate regions of Europe, North America and Siberia. It does best in moist, lime-rich, peaty soil, such as wet meadows, fens and damp woodland edges.

Family
Cyperaceae (Cyper family)
Grows as
Grass
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep the soil consistently wet or boggy; it tolerates standing water at the margins.
Soil
Moist, peaty or organic soil that is neutral to alkaline (lime-rich).
Temperature
Hardy in cold winters, roughly -30 °C or colder; grows best in cool summers.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Europe to NW. Iran, Siberia, Canada to NC. & NE. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate

About

Carex flava, called hedgehog grass or large yellow sedge, is a widespread species of sedge (genus Carex, family Cyperaceae), native to the northern United States, Canada, Iceland, Europe, the Atlas Mountains in Africa, the Transcaucasus area, and parts of Siberia. It gives its name to the Carex flava species complex.

Where it grows

Carex flava favours calcareous mires and damp woodland conditions. It thrives on peaty soil flushed by calcareous water from adjacent limestone outcrops.

Other Carex plants

Carex alba · Tall Sedge · Black-spike sedge · Asian Shortstem Sedge · Hair-like sedge · Carex curvula · Common Yellow Sedge · Dioecious sedge · Teasel Sedge · Grassland sedge · Carex dolichostachya · Tufted Sedge

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Carex flava by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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