§1 Plant
Carex tenera Dewey
vernacular quill 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
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 467 counties across 29 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- High
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -33 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 85 min.
- Precipitation
- 30–50 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.9–7
- Root depth
- 8 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 2.5 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
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- 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 467 counties across 29 states/territories.
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Illinois view state ↗ 44 N ▾
- Adams 17001
- Bond 17005
- Boone 17007
- Cass 17017
- Champaign 17019
- Christian 17021
- Clark 17023
- Cook 17031
- DeKalb 17037
- DuPage 17043
- Edgar 17045
- Effingham 17049
- Grundy 17063
- Hancock 17067
- Henderson 17071
- Jackson 17077
- Jo Daviess 17085
- Johnson 17087
- Kane 17089
- Kankakee 17091
- Kendall 17093
- Lake 17097
- Lee 17103
- Marion 17121
- Mason 17125
- McHenry 17111
- Menard 17129
- Montgomery 17135
- Moultrie 17139
- Ogle 17141
- Peoria 17143
- Piatt 17147
- Pike 17149
- Randolph 17157
- Richland 17159
- Rock Island 17161
- Scott 17171
- St. Clair 17163
- Stephenson 17177
- Wabash 17185
- Warren 17187
- Will 17197
- Williamson 17199
- Winnebago 17201
Indiana view state ↗ 21 N ▾
Iowa view state ↗ 3 N ▾
Kansas view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 9 N ▾
Maine view state ↗ 16 N ▾
Maryland view state ↗ 6 N ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 13 N ▾
Michigan view state ↗ 48 N ▾
- Alcona 26001
- Arenac 26011
- Bay 26017
- Berrien 26021
- Charlevoix 26029
- Cheboygan 26031
- Chippewa 26033
- Clinton 26037
- Emmet 26047
- Genesee 26049
- Gladwin 26051
- Gratiot 26057
- Huron 26063
- Ingham 26065
- Ionia 26067
- Iosco 26069
- Iron 26071
- Isabella 26073
- Jackson 26075
- Kalamazoo 26077
- Kent 26081
- Lenawee 26091
- Livingston 26093
- Mackinac 26097
- Macomb 26099
- Marquette 26103
- Mecosta 26107
- Menominee 26109
- Midland 26111
- Monroe 26115
- Montcalm 26117
- Montmorency 26119
- Muskegon 26121
- Oakland 26125
- Ontonagon 26131
- Osceola 26133
- Ottawa 26139
- Presque Isle 26141
- Saginaw 26145
- Sanilac 26151
- Schoolcraft 26153
- Shiawassee 26155
- St. Clair 26147
- St. Joseph 26149
- Tuscola 26157
- Washtenaw 26161
- Wayne 26163
- Wexford 26165
Minnesota view state ↗ 65 N ▾
- Aitkin 27001
- Anoka 27003
- Becker 27005
- Beltrami 27007
- Benton 27009
- Big Stone 27011
- Blue Earth 27013
- Brown 27015
- Carlton 27017
- Cass 27021
- Chisago 27025
- Clay 27027
- Clearwater 27029
- Cook 27031
- Crow Wing 27035
- Dakota 27037
- Dodge 27039
- Douglas 27041
- Fillmore 27045
- Goodhue 27049
- Hennepin 27053
- Houston 27055
- Isanti 27059
- Itasca 27061
- Jackson 27063
- Kanabec 27065
- Kandiyohi 27067
- Kittson 27069
- Koochiching 27071
- Lac qui Parle 27073
- Lake 27075
- Lake of the Woods 27077
- Le Sueur 27079
- Lyon 27083
- Mahnomen 27087
- Marshall 27089
- Martin 27091
- McLeod 27085
- Meeker 27093
- Mille Lacs 27095
- Morrison 27097
- Mower 27099
- Murray 27101
- Norman 27107
- Olmsted 27109
- Otter Tail 27111
- Pennington 27113
- Pine 27115
- Ramsey 27123
- Red Lake 27125
- Renville 27129
- Rice 27131
- Roseau 27135
- Scott 27139
- St. Louis 27137
- Stearns 27145
- Steele 27147
- Todd 27153
- Traverse 27155
- Wabasha 27157
- Washington 27163
- Wilkin 27167
- Winona 27169
- Wright 27171
- Yellow Medicine 27173
Missouri view state ↗ 4 N ▾
Nebraska view state ↗ 3 N ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 9 N ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 10 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 47 N ▾
- Albany 36001
- Bronx 36005
- Broome 36007
- Cattaraugus 36009
- Cayuga 36011
- Chemung 36015
- Chenango 36017
- Clinton 36019
- Columbia 36021
- Cortland 36023
- Delaware 36025
- Dutchess 36027
- Erie 36029
- Essex 36031
- Fulton 36035
- Genesee 36037
- Greene 36039
- Hamilton 36041
- Jefferson 36045
- Livingston 36051
- Monroe 36055
- Montgomery 36057
- Nassau 36059
- Niagara 36063
- Onondaga 36067
- Orange 36071
- Orleans 36073
- Oswego 36075
- Otsego 36077
- Queens 36081
- Rensselaer 36083
- Richmond 36085
- Saratoga 36091
- Schenectady 36093
- Schoharie 36095
- St. Lawrence 36089
- Steuben 36101
- Suffolk 36103
- Sullivan 36105
- Tioga 36107
- Tompkins 36109
- Ulster 36111
- Warren 36113
- Washington 36115
- Wayne 36117
- Westchester 36119
- Yates 36123
North Carolina view state ↗ 7 N ▾
North Dakota view state ↗ 19 N ▾
Ohio view state ↗ 13 N ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 22 N ▾
- Berks 42011
- Blair 42013
- Carbon 42025
- Centre 42027
- Clearfield 42033
- Clinton 42035
- Crawford 42039
- Delaware 42045
- Erie 42049
- Huntingdon 42061
- Lackawanna 42069
- Lancaster 42071
- Lycoming 42081
- McKean 42083
- Monroe 42089
- Northampton 42095
- Pike 42103
- Schuylkill 42107
- Somerset 42111
- Sullivan 42113
- Warren 42123
- Wayne 42127
Rhode Island view state ↗ 2 N ▾
South Dakota view state ↗ 5 N ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 4 N ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 13 N ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 10 N ▾
West Virginia view state ↗ 5 N ▾
Wisconsin view state ↗ 60 N ▾
- Adams 55001
- Ashland 55003
- Barron 55005
- Bayfield 55007
- Brown 55009
- Buffalo 55011
- Chippewa 55017
- Clark 55019
- Columbia 55021
- Crawford 55023
- Dane 55025
- Dodge 55027
- Door 55029
- Douglas 55031
- Dunn 55033
- Eau Claire 55035
- Fond du Lac 55039
- Forest 55041
- Grant 55043
- Green 55045
- Green Lake 55047
- Iowa 55049
- Iron 55051
- Jackson 55053
- Jefferson 55055
- Kenosha 55059
- Kewaunee 55061
- La Crosse 55063
- Lincoln 55069
- Marathon 55073
- Marinette 55075
- Marquette 55077
- Menominee 55078
- Milwaukee 55079
- Monroe 55081
- Oconto 55083
- Outagamie 55087
- Ozaukee 55089
- Pierce 55093
- Portage 55097
- Racine 55101
- Richland 55103
- Rock 55105
- Rusk 55107
- Sauk 55111
- Sawyer 55113
- Shawano 55115
- Sheboygan 55117
- St. Croix 55109
- Taylor 55119
- Trempealeau 55121
- Vernon 55123
- Walworth 55127
- Washburn 55129
- Washington 55131
- Waukesha 55133
- Waupaca 55135
- Waushara 55137
- Winnebago 55139
- Wood 55141
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/CATE3 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2728212 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T08:39:52Z