Carex atherodesSpreng.

Wheat sedgewheat sedge

WFO wfo-0000344649 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex atherodes, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. a Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / 2019-06-22 / obs. 42831601
Carex atherodes, photographed by Eric Lamb
fig. b Eric Lamb, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 147413895
Carex atherodes, photographed by Henrique Pacheco
fig. c Henrique Pacheco, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205761741
Carex atherodes, photographed by Силаева Татьяна Борисовна
fig. d Силаева Татьяна Борисовна, CC0 1.0 / obs. 151011822
Carex atherodes, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. e Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 177665989
Carex atherodes, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. f Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138134603
Carex atherodes, photographed by Anastasia Titovets
fig. g Anastasia Titovets, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176597164
Carex atherodes, photographed by Oleg Kosterin
fig. h Oleg Kosterin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 144300764

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 3153738
Filed as
Carex atherodes Spreng.
Det. by
Strong, Mark T., (BOT), Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History (UNITED STATES)
Collected
R. Gross 1927-06
Origin
DE
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 62 botanical countries

Regions where Carex atherodes is native: Altay, Amur, China North-Central, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Baltic States, Central European Russia, East European Russia, Finland, Germany, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Poland, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AltayAmurChina North-CentralInner MongoliaIrkutskKazakhstanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeTranscaucasusTürkiyeWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaBaltic StatesCentral European RussiaEast European RussiaFinlandGermanyNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaPolandSwedenAlaskaAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaMaineManitobaMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew MexicoNew YorkNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon
Native distribution of Carex atherodes, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Hampshire NWH
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
China North-Central CHN
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Baltic States BLT EUROPE
Central European Russia RUC
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Germany GER
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Poland POL
Sweden SWE

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 463 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -25.7 °C -14.2 °C -6.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.3 °C 23.3 °C 27.4 °C
Annual rainfall 360 mm 606 mm 1,019 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 29 mm 80 mm 202 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 463 research-grade observations of Carex atherodes that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 51 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Carex amurensis var. mandschurica Kük.
  • Carex aristata Siegert ex Wimm.
  • Carex aristata R.Br.
  • Carex aristata subsp. imberbis A.Gray
  • Carex aristata subsp. orostachys C.A.Mey.
  • Carex aristata subsp. orostachys (C.A.Mey.) Kük.
  • Carex aristata subsp. orthostachys (C.A.Mey.) Kük.
  • Carex aristata var. browniana Asch.
  • Carex aristata var. cujavica Asch. & Sprib.
  • Carex aristata var. glabra R.Uechtr.
  • Carex aristata var. imberbis (A.Gray) Farw.
  • Carex aristata var. kirschsteiniana Asch. ex Lackow.
  • Carex aristata var. kirschsteinii Asch. & Graebn.
  • Carex aristata var. longo-lanceolata Dewey
  • Carex aristata var. maxima (Kük.) Kük.
  • Carex aristata var. orthostachys (C.A.Mey.) C.B.Clarke
  • Carex aristata var. siegertiana (R.Uechtr.) Asch.
  • Carex aristata var. subaristata Kük.
  • Carex aristata var. vix-vaginans Kük.
  • Carex atherodes f. glabra (R.Uechtr.) Lepage
  • Carex atherodes f. imberbis (A.Gray) B.Boivin
  • Carex atherodes var. cujavica (Asch. & Sprib.) Rauschert
  • Carex atherodes var. glabra (R.Uechtr.) Rauschert
  • Carex atherodes var. kirschsteinii (Asch. & Graebn.) Rauschert

and 27 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.