Carex scabrataSchwein.

Scabrous sedgeeastern rough sedge

WFO wfo-0000351016 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex scabrata, photographed by Bruce Cook
fig. a Bruce Cook, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-27 / obs. 201068763
Carex scabrata, photographed by Lynn Harper
fig. b Lynn Harper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 156565658
Carex scabrata, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. c Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 143669087
Carex scabrata, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. d Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 137703938
Carex scabrata, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. e Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 134699087
Carex scabrata, photographed by Summit Metro Parks
fig. f Summit Metro Parks, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133041665
Carex scabrata, photographed by Summit Metro Parks
fig. g Summit Metro Parks, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133041727
Carex scabrata, photographed by naturalist charlie
fig. h naturalist charlie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 99361788

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 31 botanical countries

Regions where Carex scabrata is native: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin ConnecticutGeorgiaIndianaKentuckyMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaNova ScotiaOhioOklahomaOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSouth CarolinaTennesseeVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsin DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Carex scabrata, 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
Connecticut CNT NORTHERN AMERICA
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Georgia GEO
Indiana INI
Kentucky KTY
Maine MAI
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS

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 1,023 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -15.6 °C -10.8 °C -5.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.1 °C 24.3 °C 27.4 °C
Annual rainfall 865 mm 1,146 mm 1,626 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 147 mm 225 mm 339 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 1,023 research-grade observations of Carex scabrata 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.

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.