Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Dewey sedge
Carex deweyana · includes its varieties and subspecies
Dewey sedge is recorded as native to 19 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 308 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Dewey sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 308 counties, across 19 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3.8 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates 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.
Dewey sedge is recorded as native to 19 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 308 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 308 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Colorado 10 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Maine 13 counties
- Massachusetts 6 counties
- Michigan 56 counties
- Minnesota 50 counties
- Montana 2 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 4 counties
- New Mexico 4 counties
- New York 41 counties
- North Dakota 7 counties
- Ohio 1 county
- Pennsylvania 20 counties
- South Dakota 1 county
- Vermont 14 counties
- Washington 17 counties
- Wisconsin 50 counties
- Wyoming 2 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
- 3.8 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Decumbent
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium
- pH range
- 5.4 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- High
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
- Contracting Only
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CADE9
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 deweyana (PLANTS symbol CADE9), including 1 variety or 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