Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Greater bladder sedge
Carex intumescens
Greater bladder sedge is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 918 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Greater bladder sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 918 counties, across 33 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates 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.
Greater bladder sedge is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 918 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 918 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 14 counties
- Arkansas 24 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 17 counties
- Georgia 30 counties
- Illinois 7 counties
- Indiana 26 counties
- Kentucky 36 counties
- Louisiana 39 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Maryland 24 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 72 counties
- Minnesota 38 counties
- Mississippi 16 counties
- Missouri 9 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 21 counties
- New York 52 counties
- North Carolina 77 counties
- Ohio 24 counties
- Pennsylvania 64 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 25 counties
- South Dakota 1 county
- Tennessee 54 counties
- Texas 23 counties
- Vermont 14 counties
- Virginia 86 counties
- West Virginia 17 counties
- Wisconsin 62 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 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 36 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.8 to 6.9
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- 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
- Dark 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
- CAIN12
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 intumescens (PLANTS symbol CAIN12).
- 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