Carex rupestrisAll.

curly sedge

WFO wfo-0000350865 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex rupestris, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. a Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-14 / obs. 139985849
Carex rupestris, photographed by Cecelia Alexander
fig. b Cecelia Alexander, CC0 1.0 / obs. 93043762
Carex rupestris, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. c Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 72409046
Carex rupestris, photographed by Fabien Anthelme
fig. d Fabien Anthelme, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 65779116
Carex rupestris, photographed by Fabien Anthelme
fig. e Fabien Anthelme, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 162273026
Carex rupestris, photographed by Michael D. Pirie
fig. f Michael D. Pirie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 155334596
Carex rupestris, photographed by Matt Berger
fig. g Matt Berger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 148736078
Carex rupestris, photographed by Étienne Léveillé-Bourret
fig. h Étienne Léveillé-Bourret, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 67577551

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 53 botanical countries

Regions where Carex rupestris is native: Altay, Amur, Japan, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Sakhalin, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Belarus, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, North European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Greenland, Labrador, Manitoba, Montana, New Mexico, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Québec, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Yukon AltayAmurJapanKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeSakhalinWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBelarusCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyIcelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSvalbardSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoGreenlandLabradorManitobaMontanaNew MexicoNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNunavutOntarioQuébecSouth DakotaUtahWyomingYukon Korea
Native distribution of Carex rupestris, 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
Belarus BLR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Iceland ICE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Svalbard SVA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Greenland GNL
Labrador LAB
Manitoba MAN
Montana MNT
New Mexico NWM
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Québec QUE
South Dakota SDA
Utah UTA
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK

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 169 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -34.6 °C -18.8 °C -8.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 7.2 °C 14.8 °C 19.7 °C
Annual rainfall 283 mm 1,007 mm 2,070 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 33 mm 151 mm 355 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 169 research-grade observations of Carex rupestris 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 attenuata R.Br.
  • Carex drummondiana Dewey
  • Carex dufourei Lapeyr.
  • Carex petraea Wahlenb.
  • Carex pulicaris var. montana Pugsley
  • Carex rupestris f. pygmaea Bolzon
  • Carex rupestris subsp. drummondiana (Dewey) Holub
  • Carex rupestris var. drummondiana (Dewey) L.H.Bailey
  • Carex rupestris var. rupestris
  • Caricinella rupestris (All.) St.-Lag.
  • Edritria petraea (Wahlenb.) Raf.
  • Edritria rupestris (All.) 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.