Clustered Sedge, Carex glaucescens

Clustered Sedge, Carex glaucescens
Fruiting Clustered Sedge, Carex glaucescens. Black Creek Ravines, Clay County. Photo CC BY-NC ericpo1
Clustered Sedge (Carex glaucesens) is another sedge, like the previously profiled False Hop Sedge, that defies the stereotypes that sedges are all small, green, boring, and indistinguishable. Also known as Southern Waxy Sedge, is an wet understory sedge of the Southeastern US but doesn't go far south into Central Florida1. It's restricted to the panhandle, Northeast Florida, and Lake County.
Clustered Sedge, Carex glaucescens. Photo © Shirley Denton

C. glaucescens was described in 1824 by botanist Stephen Elliot2.  It is vouchered for 26 out of the 67 counties in Florida.
Clustered Sedge, Carex glaucescens Photo © Shirley Denton

Clustered Sedge is within the Glaucescentes section of the Carex genus3, which mean that it is closely related to other chunky-fruited Florida sedges: Cypress Swamp Sedge (C. joorii) and Warty Sedge (C. verrucosa).

Clustered Sedge is listed as endangered in Arkansas and Maryland4. This sedge is so charismatic that we specifically went to visit it during the Annual Conference in Gainesville in 2007. Field trip leaders Geoff Parks and Suzie Hetrick led us to Hogtown Creek in Split Rock Conservation Area5.

References

[1] USDA. 2019. Carex glaucescens Elliott southern waxy sedge sedge. PLANTS Database. link
[2] Elliott. 1824. Sketch Bot. S. Carolina. Vol. 2 p553. link
[3] Simpson, et al. 2007. Phylogeny of Cyperaceae Based on DNA Sequence Data - a New rbcL Analysis. Alisco 23, p. 72-83. link
[4]  NatureServe. 2019. Carex glaucescens - Ell. Southern Waxy Sedge. link
[5] Florida Native Plant Society. 2007. Annual Conference, Conservation Cures- by the yard and mile, Program. link

Further reading

Steward, Randy. 2010. Carex - Ornamental Sedge. Future Plants. link
Gibson, Andrew. 2014. Botanizing the Florida Panhandle: Venus Fly Traps, Pitcher Plants,Sundews and more in Hosford Bog. The Buckeye Botanist. link
Clustered Sedge (Carex glaucescens). iNaturalist link
Matson, Chris. 2009. Graminoids (Families Poaceae, Juncaceae and Cyperaceae). The Univeristy of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. link

by Valerie Anderson, staff | email

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