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San Diego sedge

Carex spissa

San Diego sedge
Photo: Stickpen, Public domain
Family
Cyperaceae (Cyper family)
Grows as
Grass
Native range
California to Mexico
Climate
subtropical

About

Carex spissa is a species of sedge known by the common name San Diego sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to the southwestern United States in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and far northern Mexico. It grows in wet places such as seeps and streambanks, sometimes on serpentine soils. This sedge looks somewhat like a cattail. It produces angled stems easily exceeding a meter in height surrounded by leathery green to reddish leaves up to about 1.2 meters long. The inflorescence is up to 80 centimeters long, with many long reddish brown flower spikes, each holding up to 300 developing fruits.

Other Carex plants

Carex abitibiana · Indian Valley sedge · Abruptbeak sedge · Thicket sedge · Small Dusky Sedge · Seoul Sedge · Acid Loving Sedge · Carex acocksii · Slender Tufted-sedge · Carex acutata · Lesser pond sedge · Circumpolar sedge

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Carex spissa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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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