NameThatPlant.net: Carex flexuosa

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Carex flexuosa FAMILY Cyperaceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Closely related to Carex debilis and C. allegheniensis. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

Carex allegheniensis and C. flexuosa are often treated as varieties of C. debilis, per Weakley's Flora (2023).

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Carex debilis var. rudgei FAMILY Cyperaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2015)

Carex debilis var. rudgei

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 23 (2002)

Carex debilis var. rudgei

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)

Carex debilis var. rudgei

INCLUDED WITHIN Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)

Carex debilis

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 030-17-084c:

Carex debilis var. rudgei FAMILY Cyperaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Carex flexuosa

COMMON NAME:
Flexuous White-edge Sedge, Rudge’s White-edge Sedge

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Carex flexuosa, Flexuous White-edge Sedge, Rudge’s White-edge Sedge

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_cafl20_001_pvd

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Carex flexuosa FAMILY Cyperaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Carex debilis var. rudgei FAMILY Cyperaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2015)
Carex debilis var. rudgei

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 23
Carex debilis var. rudgei

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Carex debilis var. rudgei

INCLUDED WITHIN Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Carex debilis

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 030-17-084c:
Carex debilis var. rudgei FAMILY Cyperaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Carex flexuosa

4461

Grass, Sedge, or Rush
Perennial
Monoecious

Habitat: Dry to moist upland forests, openings, grassy balds, granitic domes, rock outcrops, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common in NC Mountains, uncommon in Mountains of GA & SC

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Simple
Basal? Alternate, 3-ranked?

RHIZOMES? STOLONS?
Densely cespitose [growing in dense tufts, clumping]

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Perianth absent
3 stamens
Superior ovary
Unisexual

Inf: spikes (terminal staminate or occ. gynecandrous; 2-5 lateral pistillate)

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Nutlet

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

"Common names should be written in lower case unless part of the name is proper and then the first letter of only the proper term is capitalized. For example, sugar maple would be written with lower case letters while Japanese maple would be written with the capital J. This is the accepted method for writing common names in scientific circles and should be familiar to the student. In this text, and many others, common names are written with capital first letters. This was done to set the name off from the rest of the sentence and make it more evident to the reader. Actually in modern horticultural writings the capitalized common name predominates." — Michael Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants

If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".

Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".