Carex livida(Wahlenb.) Willd.

Livid sedgePale sedgelivid sedge

WFO wfo-0000348415 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex livida, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. a Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / 2017-06-17 / obs. 10084087
Carex livida, photographed by Derek
fig. b Derek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 8104013
Carex livida, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. c Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 140085194
Carex livida, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. d Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133831715
Carex livida, photographed by Allan Harris
fig. e Allan Harris, CC0 1.0 / obs. 93138902
Carex livida, photographed by Rob Foster
fig. f Rob Foster, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 43270917
Carex livida, photographed by Rob Foster
fig. g Rob Foster, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 85747923
Carex livida, photographed by Allan Harris
fig. h Allan Harris, CC0 1.0 / obs. 59460168

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 48 botanical countries

Regions where Carex livida is native: Japan, Kamchatka, Korea, Kuril Is., Primorye, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Finland, Iceland, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, Colorado, Indiana, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Oregon, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon, Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá, Peru JapanKamchatkaPrimoryeWest SiberiaYakutiyaFinlandIcelandNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwaySwedenAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoIndianaLabradorMaineManitobaMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOntarioOregonPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanVermontWashingtonWisconsinWyomingYukonColombiaEcuadorPanamáPeru Korea
Native distribution of Carex livida, 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
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Indiana INI
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Japan JAP ASIA-TEMPERATE
Kamchatka KAM
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Primorye PRM
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Finland FIN EUROPE
Iceland ICE
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
Sweden SWE
Colombia CLM SOUTHERN AMERICA
Ecuador ECU
Panamá PAN
Peru PER

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Aleutian Is.. 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 371 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -21.2 °C -11.5 °C 4.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 15.4 °C 22.1 °C 25.8 °C
Annual rainfall 486 mm 1,025 mm 4,030 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 56 mm 198 mm 433 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 371 research-grade observations of Carex livida 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 12 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 confertospicata Boeckeler
  • Carex fujidae Kudô
  • Carex fujitae Kudô
  • Carex grayana Dewey
  • Carex limosa var. livida Wahlenb.
  • Carex livida var. grayana (Dewey) Fernald
  • Carex livida var. livida
  • Carex livida var. radicalis Paine
  • Carex livida var. rufinaeformis Fernald
  • Carex livida var. typica Fernald
  • Carex lividulla Nakai
  • Edritria livida (Wahlenb.) Raf.

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.