Carex comosaBoott

Bristly sedgebristly sedgelonghair sedge

WFO wfo-0000345628 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex comosa, photographed by Benoit Renaud
fig. a Benoit Renaud, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-08-03 / obs. 148838926
Carex comosa, photographed by Loopy30
fig. b Loopy30, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 144639575
Carex comosa, photographed by Ryan Sorrells
fig. c Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 142046307
Carex comosa, photographed by Tom Scavo
fig. d Tom Scavo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141907478
Carex comosa, photographed by Lisa Wiencek Gerbec
fig. e Lisa Wiencek Gerbec, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141056006
Carex comosa, photographed by Eric Schmidt
fig. f Eric Schmidt, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 142821441
Carex comosa, photographed by Mark Apgar
fig. g Mark Apgar, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139091450
Carex comosa, photographed by Steven Lamonde
fig. h Steven Lamonde, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139526261

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.

Native range 33 botanical countries

Regions where Carex comosa is native: Alabama, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Brunswick, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Québec, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin AlabamaArkansasBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico NortheastMexico SouthwestMichiganMinnesotaMississippiNew BrunswickNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaQuébecSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWisconsin
Native distribution of Carex comosa, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Connecticut CNT
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Maine MAI
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southwest MXS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
New Brunswick NBR
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Wisconsin WIS

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 1,984 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -14.6 °C -8.4 °C 2.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.0 °C 26.9 °C 31.2 °C
Annual rainfall 817 mm 1,037 mm 1,426 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 74 mm 199 mm 294 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,984 research-grade observations of Carex comosa 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 2 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 furcata Elliott
  • Carex pseudocyperus var. comosa (Boott) Boott

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.