Carex lasiocarpaEhrh.

slender sedgewoollyfruit sedge

WFO wfo-0000348121 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex lasiocarpa, photographed by Henrique Pacheco
fig. a Henrique Pacheco, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 204108237

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
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
01527679
Filed as
Carex lasiocarpa Ehrh.
Det. by
D. E. Atha 2012-01-01
Collected
D. E. Atha 2011-06-18
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 80 botanical countries

Regions where Carex lasiocarpa is native: Altay, Amur, Inner Mongolia, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuril Is., Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Sakhalin, Transcaucasus, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Northwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin AltayAmurInner MongoliaJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeSakhalinTranscaucasusWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaLabradorMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico NorthwestMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanVermontVirginiaWashingtonWisconsin KoreaRhode I.
Native distribution of Carex lasiocarpa, 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
California CAL
Connecticut CNT
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Northwest MXN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Inner Mongolia CHI
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Transcaucasus TCS
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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 1,409 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -19.5 °C -11.5 °C -4.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 16.9 °C 22.9 °C 26.8 °C
Annual rainfall 571 mm 852 mm 1,438 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 72 mm 132 mm 284 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 1,409 research-grade observations of Carex lasiocarpa 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 22 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 filiformis var. australis L.H.Bailey
  • Carex filiformis var. lanuginosa (Michx.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.
  • Carex filiformis var. latifolia Boeckeler
  • Carex filiformis var. occultans Franch.
  • Carex fuscata Ohwi
  • Carex koidzumii Honda
  • Carex koidzumii var. fuscata (Ohwi) Ohwi
  • Carex lanuginosa Michx.
  • Carex lanuginosa var. americana (Fernald) B.Boivin
  • Carex lanuginosa var. kansana Britton
  • Carex lanuginosa var. oriens Raymond
  • Carex lasiocarpa f. kansana (Britton) Kük.
  • Carex lasiocarpa f. meduaensis H.Lév. & Vaniot
  • Carex lasiocarpa f. robusta Junge
  • Carex lasiocarpa f. stricta Junge
  • Carex lasiocarpa subsp. americana (Fernald) Á.Löve & J.-P.Bernard
  • Carex lasiocarpa subsp. lanuginosa (Michx.) R.T.Clausen & Wahl
  • Carex lasiocarpa subsp. occultans (Franch.) Hultén
  • Carex lasiocarpa var. fuscata Ohwi
  • Carex lasiocarpa var. lanuginosa (Michx.) Kük.
  • Carex occultans (Franch.) V.I.Krecz.
  • Carex splendida Willd.

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.