Carex extensaGooden.

long-bracted sedgelongbract sedge

WFO wfo-0000346491 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex extensa, photographed by Jasper
fig. a Jasper, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-08-24 / obs. 152979971
Carex extensa, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. b Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139182524
Carex extensa, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. c Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138835829
Carex extensa, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. d Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138842359
Carex extensa, photographed by Robert H. Wardell
fig. e Robert H. Wardell, CC0 1.0 / obs. 50109897
Carex extensa, photographed by Stephen James McWilliam
fig. f Stephen James McWilliam, CC0 1.0 / obs. 48905976
Carex extensa, photographed by Susan Marley
fig. g Susan Marley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 48894792
Carex extensa, photographed by Dan Wrench
fig. h Dan Wrench, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 41541558

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 extensa is native: Algeria, Azores, Egypt, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Tunisia, Cyprus, Iran, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Sinai, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Baleares, Baltic States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine AlgeriaEgyptLibyaMoroccoTunisiaCyprusIranLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineSinaiTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaBaltic StatesBelgiumBulgariaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceIrelandItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainSwedenUkraine AzoresMadeiraBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Carex extensa, 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
Albania ALB EUROPE
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Ukraine UKR
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Sinai SIN
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Azores AZO
Egypt EGY
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN

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 447 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -1.9 °C 3.6 °C 10.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.5 °C 23.8 °C 28.9 °C
Annual rainfall 412 mm 882 mm 1,456 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 17 mm 157 mm 269 mm

It is found where winters bring light 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 447 research-grade observations of Carex extensa 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 19 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 arcuata Wahlenb.
  • Carex balbisii Schkuhr ex Balb.
  • Carex balbisii Schkuhr ex Spreng.
  • Carex extensa f. balbisii (Schkuhr ex Balb.) Kük.
  • Carex extensa f. gynobasis Ciocârlan
  • Carex extensa f. pumila (Andersson) Kük.
  • Carex extensa f. tenuifolia (DC.) Kük.
  • Carex extensa subsp. sacalinensis Ciocârlan
  • Carex extensa subsp. viestina Fen.
  • Carex extensa var. balbisii (Schkuhr ex Balb.) Rchb.
  • Carex extensa var. graeca Hausskn.
  • Carex extensa var. nana Husn.
  • Carex extensa var. nervosa (Desf.) Nyman
  • Carex extensa var. puberula Merino
  • Carex extensa var. pumila Andersson
  • Carex extensa var. tenuifolia DC.
  • Carex nervosa Desf.
  • Carex peruviana Dombey ex Boott
  • Trasus extensus (Gooden.) Gray

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.