Carex chordorrhizaL.f.

cordroot sedgecreeping sedge

WFO wfo-0000345526 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Sarah Johnson
fig. a Sarah Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-05-22 / obs. 130874774
Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. b Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 50032815
Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Sarah Johnson
fig. c Sarah Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47010023
Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Norma Malinowski
fig. d Norma Malinowski, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 43308694
Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Norma Malinowski
fig. e Norma Malinowski, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42638406
Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Norma Malinowski
fig. f Norma Malinowski, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 18749535
Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Andre Hosper
fig. g Andre Hosper, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 19233054
Carex chordorrhiza, photographed by Valerii Glazunov
fig. h Valerii Glazunov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 153913580

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
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Accession
K000907720
Filed as
Carex chordorrhiza L.f.
Det. by
Clarke, J.B.
Collected
Richardson, J.
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

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 63 botanical countries

Regions where Carex chordorrhiza is native: Altay, Amur, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Greenland, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, Vermont, Wisconsin, Yukon AltayAmurKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyIcelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayPolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaGreenlandIllinoisIndianaIowaLabradorMaineManitobaMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew YorkNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNunavutOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanVermontWisconsinYukon Korea
Native distribution of Carex chordorrhiza, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Greenland GNL
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Wisconsin WIS
Yukon YUK
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Iceland ICE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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 432 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -26.9 °C -13.8 °C -6.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 15.4 °C 22.5 °C 26.3 °C
Annual rainfall 483 mm 773 mm 1,292 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 55 mm 110 mm 256 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 432 research-grade observations of Carex chordorrhiza 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 9 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 chordorrhiza var. aestivalis Asch. & Graebn.
  • Carex chordorrhiza var. genuina Trautv.
  • Carex chordorrhiza var. sphagnicola Laest. ex Th.Fr.
  • Carex fischeriana J.Gay
  • Carex fulvicoma Dewey
  • Carex funiformis Clairv.
  • Carex teretiuscula Willk.
  • Caricina chordorrhiza (L.f.) St.-Lag.
  • Vignea chordorrhiza (L.f.) Rchb.

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.