Carex paucifloraLightf.

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WFO wfo-0000349841 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex pauciflora, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. a Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-08-28 / obs. 155784672
Carex pauciflora, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. b Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 148197685
Carex pauciflora, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. c Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 146426089
Carex pauciflora, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. d Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 146427776
Carex pauciflora, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. e Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145941710
Carex pauciflora, photographed by Nadezhda Kiseleva
fig. f Nadezhda Kiseleva, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 159866668
Carex pauciflora, photographed by Norma Malinowski
fig. g Norma Malinowski, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95606103
Carex pauciflora, photographed by Rob Foster
fig. h Rob Foster, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 90059894

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 57 botanical countries

Regions where Carex pauciflora is native: Altay, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuril Is., Primorye, Sakhalin, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Connecticut, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Québec, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Yukon AltayJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanPrimoryeSakhalinWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyIrelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaConnecticutLabradorMaineManitobaMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew YorkNewfoundlandNova ScotiaOntarioPennsylvaniaQuébecVermontWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinYukon Korea
Native distribution of Carex pauciflora, 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
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Connecticut CNT
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Nova Scotia NSC
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
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 1,252 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -20.3 °C -12.3 °C -0.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 14.6 °C 20.7 °C 24.8 °C
Annual rainfall 641 mm 1,037 mm 3,319 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 74 mm 181 mm 428 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 1,252 research-grade observations of Carex pauciflora 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 9 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.

  • Anithista patula Raf.
  • Carex leucoglochin L.f.
  • Carex patula Huds.
  • Carex pauciflora f. elatior Kük. & J.Schust.
  • Carex phyllophora Kunth
  • Caricinella pauciflora (Lightf.) St.-Lag.
  • Leucoglochin pauciflorus (Lightf.) Heuff.
  • Psyllophora pauciflora (Lightf.) Schur
  • Trasus pauciflorus (Lightf.) 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.