Nebraska Sedge - Carex nebrascensis

Characteristics

• Habit: A short to medium-sized robust perennial, 8 to 40 inches in height. Rhizomatous, usually occurring in dense, multispecies stands.
• Stems: Stout and triangular.
• Leaves: Flat, alternate, triangular, and ranging in color from green to blue.
• Spikes: Borne on spikes, sessile, usually with 12 male spikes above the 2-5 female spikes. Flowering period: May to August.

Habitat

• Distribution: A common species that can be found at elevations from 3,500 to 10,000 feet.
• Community: Meadows, seeps, and ditches. Grows on a range of moist, fresh, fine textured soils. Generally does not establish well on gravel or clay soils.
• Hydrology: Usually found in areas with season-long saturated soils, although tolerant of a range of hydrologic regimes. It can tolerate total inundation for up to 3 months.

Wildlife Benefits

• Food (seeds, rhizomes): Waterfowl, upland game birds, small mammals and songbirds.
• Food (plants): Muskrats, geese, livestock and other grazers. Palitability and production are high.
• Cover: Nesting waterfowl and small mammal cover.

Comments

Tolerates alkaline soils. Excellent soil stabilizer. Forms dense deep root system with root biomasses up to 3000 g/m2 in top 20 cm of soil. Used by native Americans for mats, bedding, and food.

Propagation and Planting

• Fruits: Achenes are lenticular, tan to brown and approximately 1/16 of an inch long. Collect by cutting the seedheads with a clipper. A 1/2 to 3/4 grocery bag of bulk material will yield about 1 to 2 cups of seed.
• Propagation: Remove periygnia with sandpaper box. Wet prechill seeds for 30 days in a mixture of distilled water and sphagnum moss in a cooler (34 to 38 degrees F). Sprinkle seeds on top of soils and press in to ensure seed to soil contact. Keep moist during germination. Plants should be ready for outplanting in 2 to 3 months.
• Transplanting: This species has a rapid rate of spread.
  

Suggested Spacing

For Uniform Ground Cover	Plant at
in 1 year	0.5 feet o.c.
in 2 years	1 foot o.c.
in 3 years	2 feet o.c.

Carex nebrascensis.	Seed.	Stalk with seed heads.

< Back to Appendix B

Last Modified: 07/11/2007