Rhizomatous sedge forming clumps in wet places. Leaves are long and narrow, up to 1/4 inch wide. Flowering stems from 1-3 feet tall terminate in a single male spike (B, lower right corner). Below are 1-4 nodding, cylindrical female spikes on slender stalks (A). The egg-shaped perigynia taper abruptly to a long, thin, minutely toothed beak (C) and spread at maturity, giving the spike the bristly appearance responsible for its common name.
Marshes, wet meadows, stream banks, ditches. This sedge is rare in Fontenelle Forest where, to date, only a single clump has been found growing next to the footbridge between Handsome Hollow and the railroad tracks. It has not been observed at Neale Woods. Current photos of the perigynia were obtained in late May suggesting flowering likely occurs early in May.
Another floodplain sedge with similar nodding female spikes is Bearded Sedge (Carex comosa). It is a taller, more robust plant with broader leaves and “feathery” perigynia bearing longer, broadly diverging teeth and grows only in the water next to North Stream Trail.
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