Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Cypress swamp sedge
Carex joorii
Cypress swamp sedge is recorded as native to 14 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 188 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Cypress swamp sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 188 counties, across 14 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 7a PLANTS minimum temperature −3°F
- Mature height
- 4.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 7a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −3°F; zone 7a winters bottom out at 0°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Cypress swamp sedge is recorded as native to 14 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 188 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 188 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 9 counties
- Arkansas 16 counties
- Florida 14 counties
- Georgia 6 counties
- Kentucky 3 counties
- Louisiana 31 counties
- Maryland 12 counties
- Mississippi 10 counties
- Missouri 1 county
- North Carolina 18 counties
- South Carolina 12 counties
- Tennessee 16 counties
- Texas 16 counties
- Virginia 24 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
- 4.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- 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
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.7 to 7.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −3°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 7a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 185
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CAJO2
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 joorii (PLANTS symbol CAJO2).
- 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