Index / Search / Carex microptera

§1 Plant

Carex microptera Mack.

vernacular smallwing sedge — species · Cyperaceae

USDA: CAMI7
GBIF: 2728956
Rank: species

smallwing sedge (Carex microptera) — Platephotograph · "<a href=""http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/WLI/"">USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute</a>."CC BY-NC-SA source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & 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

· 235 counties across 12 states/territories

Legend Native · 235 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: None
Shade: High
Moisture use: High
Fire: High
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: High
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -33 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 85 min.
Precipitation: 10–24 in/yr
pH range: 5.6–7.4
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): Porous
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: Summer
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Propagation: seed, bare root, sprigs

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
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 235 counties across 12 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 6 N ▾

California view state ↗ 22 N ▾

Colorado view state ↗ 31 N ▾

Idaho view state ↗ 28 N ▾

Montana view state ↗ 14 N ▾

Nevada view state ↗ 11 N ▾

New Mexico view state ↗ 21 N ▾

Oregon view state ↗ 28 N ▾

South Dakota view state ↗ 8 N ▾

Utah view state ↗ 28 N ▾

Washington view state ↗ 19 N ▾

Wyoming view state ↗ 19 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CAMI7 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2728956 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z