Carex teneraDewey

quill sedge

WFO wfo-0000351879 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 6 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 6 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Carex tenera, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. a Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-11 / obs. 142615042
Carex tenera, photographed by Katie Kucera
fig. b Katie Kucera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 43673791
Carex tenera, photographed by Katie Kucera
fig. c Katie Kucera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 41070819
Carex tenera, photographed by Étienne Lacroix-Carignan
fig. d Étienne Lacroix-Carignan, CC0 1.0 / obs. 170613738
Carex tenera, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. e Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 142615097
Carex tenera, photographed by Étienne Lacroix-Carignan
fig. f Étienne Lacroix-Carignan, CC0 1.0 / obs. 170613751
Carex tenera, photographed by Erica Barkley
fig. g Erica Barkley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205407886
Carex tenera, photographed by Summit Metro Parks
fig. h Summit Metro Parks, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 133127961

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 42 botanical countries

Regions where Carex tenera is native: Alabama, Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming AlabamaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoConnecticutIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNova ScotiaOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming District of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Carex tenera, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
District of Columbia WDC
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO

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 185 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -15.8 °C -8.5 °C -6.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.7 °C 26.1 °C 28.3 °C
Annual rainfall 750 mm 987 mm 1,215 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 85 mm 192 mm 258 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 185 research-grade observations of Carex tenera 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 6 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 mirabilis var. tenera (Dewey) Prov.
  • Carex straminea var. tenera (Dewey) L.H.Bailey
  • Carex straminea var. tenera (Dewey) Barratt
  • Carex tenera var. major Olney
  • Carex tenera var. tenera
  • Diemisa tenera (Dewey) 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.