Carex eburneaBoott

bristleleaf sedge

WFO wfo-0000346290 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex eburnea, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. a Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-05-19 / obs. 198995801

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 43 botanical countries

Regions where Carex eburnea is native: Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Arkansas, British Columbia, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Québec, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AlabamaAlaskaAlbertaArkansasBritish ColumbiaConnecticutIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyMaineManitobaMassachusettsMexico CentralMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon
Native distribution of Carex eburnea, 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
Alaska ASK
Alberta ABT
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
Connecticut CNT
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK

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 1,346 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -15.6 °C -9.6 °C -0.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.8 °C 25.5 °C 32.4 °C
Annual rainfall 799 mm 1,008 mm 1,285 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 80 mm 201 mm 269 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,346 research-grade observations of Carex eburnea 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 3 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 alba Dewey
  • Carex alba var. setifolia Dewey
  • Carex setifolia (Dewey) Britton & A.Br.

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.