Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Frank's sedge
Carex frankii
Frank's sedge is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 769 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Frank's sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 769 counties, across 24 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −23°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −23°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Frank's sedge is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 769 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 769 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 21 counties
- Arkansas 44 counties
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 14 counties
- Illinois 61 counties
- Indiana 69 counties
- Kansas 28 counties
- Kentucky 79 counties
- Maryland 18 counties
- Michigan 4 counties
- Missouri 80 counties
- Nebraska 2 counties
- New Jersey 9 counties
- New Mexico 2 counties
- New York 7 counties
- North Carolina 32 counties
- Ohio 56 counties
- Oklahoma 19 counties
- Pennsylvania 32 counties
- South Carolina 17 counties
- Tennessee 60 counties
- Virginia 76 counties
- West Virginia 36 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, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 18 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.9 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 9 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −23°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 140
- 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
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CAFR3
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 frankii (PLANTS symbol CAFR3).
- 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