Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Silvery sedge
Carex canescens · includes its varieties and subspecies
Silvery sedge is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 451 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Silvery sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 451 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Silvery sedge is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 451 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 451 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 20 counties
- Arizona 1 county
- California 10 counties
- Colorado 22 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- Idaho 13 counties
- Illinois 1 county
- Indiana 6 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Maryland 12 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 48 counties
- Minnesota 23 counties
- Montana 4 counties
- Nevada 1 county
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New Mexico 6 counties
- New York 46 counties
- North Carolina 1 county
- Ohio 13 counties
- Oregon 16 counties
- Pennsylvania 41 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- Utah 12 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 12 counties
- Washington 21 counties
- Wisconsin 37 counties
- Wyoming 11 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 14 to 40 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.1 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 85
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CACA11
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Carex canescens (PLANTS symbol CACA11), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources