Carex lepidocarpaTausch

long-stalked yellow-sedge

WFO wfo-0000348243 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex lepidocarpa, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. a Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2021-08-09 / obs. 186421371

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 38 botanical countries

Regions where Carex lepidocarpa is native: Morocco, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sicilia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Québec MoroccoAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraineNew BrunswickNewfoundlandNova ScotiaQuébec
Native distribution of Carex lepidocarpa, 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
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
New Brunswick NBR NORTHERN AMERICA
Newfoundland NFL
Nova Scotia NSC
Québec QUE
Morocco MOR AFRICA

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 313 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -12.7 °C -4.6 °C 1.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 16.2 °C 21.9 °C 26.2 °C
Annual rainfall 597 mm 1,046 mm 1,983 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 96 mm 183 mm 355 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 313 research-grade observations of Carex lepidocarpa 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 37 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 flava f. latifolia Maire & Weiller
  • Carex flava prol. lepidocarpa (Tausch) Rouy
  • Carex flava subsp. brachyrrhyncha Čelak.
  • Carex flava subsp. jemtlandica (Palmgr.) P.D.Sell
  • Carex flava subsp. lepidocarpa (Tausch) Andersson
  • Carex flava subsp. lepidocarpa (Tausch) Nyman
  • Carex flava subsp. scotica (E.W.Davies) P.D.Sell
  • Carex flava var. brachyrhyncha Čelak.
  • Carex flava var. elatior Schltdl.
  • Carex flava var. laevigata Peterm.
  • Carex flava var. lepidocarpa (Tausch) Godr.
  • Carex flava var. lepidocarpa (Tausch) Dewey
  • Carex flava var. minor Peterm.
  • Carex flava var. nelmesiana (Raymond) B.Boivin
  • Carex flava var. polystachya Gaudin
  • Carex jemtlandica (Palmgr.) Palmgr.
  • Carex jemtlandica var. gotlandiae Palmgr.
  • Carex jemtlandica var. kainuensis Palmgr.
  • Carex lepidocarpa f. laeviculmis Kneuck.
  • Carex lepidocarpa f. laevigata Peterm.
  • Carex lepidocarpa f. major Kneuck.
  • Carex lepidocarpa f. rectirostris Kneuck.
  • Carex lepidocarpa var. cylindrostachys Neuman
  • Carex lepidocarpa var. nelmesiana Raymond

and 13 more.

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.