Carex paniculataL.

Greater Tussock-sedge

WFO wfo-0000349753 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex paniculata, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. a Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205229671
Carex paniculata, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. b Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 203788342
Carex paniculata, photographed by David Sandler
fig. c David Sandler, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200247895
Carex paniculata, photographed by johnoved
fig. d johnoved, CC0 1.0 / obs. 196056209
Carex paniculata, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. e Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 194641661
Carex paniculata, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. f Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 188348717
Carex paniculata, photographed by Wolfgang Jauch
fig. g Wolfgang Jauch, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 132302472
Carex paniculata, photographed by Christina s.l.
fig. h Christina s.l., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 131449919

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 paniculata is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Morocco, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sicilia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine Canary Is.Cape Verde
Native distribution of Carex paniculata, 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
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
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
Ukraine UKR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Verde CVI
Morocco MOR
North Caucasus NCS ASIA-TEMPERATE
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR

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 1,157 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -10.8 °C -3.1 °C 4.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.2 °C 22.0 °C 25.7 °C
Annual rainfall 566 mm 853 mm 1,766 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 98 mm 155 mm 336 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 1,157 research-grade observations of Carex paniculata 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 40 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 boenninghauseniana var. subpaniculata Lange
  • Carex boenninghausiana var. subpaniculata Lange
  • Carex boenninghausiana var. subpaniculata Lange
  • Carex calderae A.Hansen
  • Carex diandra Roth
  • Carex dioica var. composita Gray
  • Carex hansenii (Lewej. & Lobin) Rivas Mart., Lousã, J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte
  • Carex lusitanica Willd.
  • Carex paniculata f. brevis Asch. & Graebn.
  • Carex paniculata f. canaliculata Neuman
  • Carex paniculata f. elongata Čelak.
  • Carex paniculata f. gracilis Asch. & Graebn.
  • Carex paniculata f. longibracteata Zapał.
  • Carex paniculata f. rigidior Kük.
  • Carex paniculata f. simplicior (Andersson) Neuman
  • Carex paniculata f. sterilis Junge
  • Carex paniculata subsp. elongata Čelak.
  • Carex paniculata subsp. squarrosa Čelak.
  • Carex paniculata var. caucasica Leskov
  • Carex paniculata var. elatior Merino
  • Carex paniculata var. elongata Čelak.
  • Carex paniculata var. lusitanica (Willd.) Nyman
  • Carex paniculata var. pallida Lange
  • Carex paniculata var. rigida A.Blytt ex Benner

and 16 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.