§1 Plant
Carex bella L.H. Bailey
vernacular southwestern showy sedge — species · Cyperaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Cyperaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Carex
§2a
Native status, by region
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 36 counties across 4 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- None
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- High
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -18 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 120 min.
- Precipitation
- 10–40 in/yr
- pH range
- 6–7.5
- Root depth
- 8 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Green
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- No Known Source
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 36 counties across 4 states/territories.
Arizona view state ↗ 4 N ▾
Colorado view state ↗ 22 N ▾
- Alamosa 08003
- Archuleta 08007
- Boulder 08013
- Chaffee 08015
- Clear Creek 08019
- Custer 08027
- Delta 08029
- Dolores 08033
- El Paso 08041
- Garfield 08045
- Grand 08049
- Gunnison 08051
- Hinsdale 08053
- La Plata 08067
- Mesa 08077
- Montezuma 08083
- Pitkin 08097
- Saguache 08109
- San Juan 08111
- San Miguel 08113
- Summit 08117
- Teller 08119
New Mexico view state ↗ 9 N ▾
South Dakota view state ↗ 1 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/CABE3 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2724348 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T11:35:19Z