Carex tomentosaL.

WFO wfo-0000352010 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Carex tomentosa, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. a Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-10 / obs. 196590429
Carex tomentosa, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. b Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 176381000
Carex tomentosa, photographed by Gabriel Mayrhofer
fig. c Gabriel Mayrhofer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 132917226
Carex tomentosa, photographed by Patrick Hacker
fig. d Patrick Hacker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 111719053
Carex tomentosa, photographed by Татьяна Горбушина
fig. e Татьяна Горбушина, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163769839
Carex tomentosa, photographed by Yuliana Leshchenko
fig. f Yuliana Leshchenko, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204442279
Carex tomentosa, photographed by Yuliana Leshchenko
fig. g Yuliana Leshchenko, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204128699
Carex tomentosa, photographed by Thomas Ebner
fig. h Thomas Ebner, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197864476

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 36 botanical countries

Regions where Carex tomentosa is native: Altay, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AltayIranKazakhstanMongoliaNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeWest SiberiaYakutiyaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine
Native distribution of Carex tomentosa, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Kazakhstan KAZ
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
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 848 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -9.5 °C -3.7 °C 0.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 20.3 °C 24.1 °C 26.7 °C
Annual rainfall 546 mm 747 mm 1,373 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 86 mm 138 mm 248 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 848 research-grade observations of Carex tomentosa 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 26 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 brueckneri Kük.
  • Carex caesia Griseb.
  • Carex grasmanniana (O.Lang) Rabenh. ex Steud.
  • Carex grassmanniana Rabenh.
  • Carex nordmannii A.Kern. ex Palla
  • Carex sphaerocarpa Ehrh.
  • Carex subvillosa M.Bieb.
  • Carex tomentosa f. globifera Schur
  • Carex tomentosa f. gracilis O.Lang
  • Carex tomentosa f. grasmanniana (Rabenh.) O.Lang
  • Carex tomentosa f. gynandra A.T.Szabó
  • Carex tomentosa f. luxuriosa Waisb.
  • Carex tomentosa f. nigrescens Kük. & Litv.
  • Carex tomentosa f. nordmannii (A.Kern. ex Palla) Kük.
  • Carex tomentosa f. pallida Waisb.
  • Carex tomentosa subsp. globifera (Schur) Asch.
  • Carex tomentosa subsp. grassmanniana (Rabenh.) Asch.
  • Carex tomentosa subsp. nordmannii (A.Kern. ex Palla) K.Richt.
  • Carex tomentosa subsp. subvillosa (M.Bieb.) Nyman
  • Carex tomentosa var. caesia (Griseb.) Nyman
  • Carex tomentosa var. decalvescens Kük.
  • Carex tomentosa var. globifera Schur
  • Carex tomentosa var. gracillima Schur
  • Carex tomentosa var. grasmanniana (O.Lang) Asch.

and 2 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. 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.