Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Fringed sedge
Carex crinita · includes its varieties and subspecies
Fringed sedge is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 858 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Fringed sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 858 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 5.2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium 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.
Fringed sedge is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 858 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 858 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 17 counties
- Arkansas 23 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 20 counties
- Illinois 22 counties
- Indiana 41 counties
- Kentucky 41 counties
- Louisiana 11 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Maryland 24 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 61 counties
- Minnesota 13 counties
- Mississippi 9 counties
- Missouri 28 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 21 counties
- New York 52 counties
- North Carolina 60 counties
- Ohio 46 counties
- Pennsylvania 62 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 18 counties
- Tennessee 48 counties
- Texas 11 counties
- Vermont 14 counties
- Virginia 98 counties
- West Virginia 20 counties
- Wisconsin 51 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
- 5.2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 36 to 65 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 18 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 144
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- 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
- CACR6
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 crinita (PLANTS symbol CACR6), 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