Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Quill sedge
Carex tenera
Quill sedge is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 445 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Quill sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 445 counties, across 28 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 2.5 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.
Quill sedge is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 445 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 445 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 5 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Illinois 44 counties
- Indiana 19 counties
- Kentucky 8 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Maryland 6 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 48 counties
- Minnesota 65 counties
- Missouri 1 county
- Nebraska 3 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 10 counties
- New York 46 counties
- North Carolina 7 counties
- North Dakota 19 counties
- Ohio 11 counties
- Pennsylvania 21 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Dakota 5 counties
- Tennessee 2 counties
- Vermont 11 counties
- Virginia 9 counties
- West Virginia 4 counties
- Wisconsin 58 counties
- Wyoming 3 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
- 2.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- 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
- High
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.9 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- 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
- Mid Spring
- 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
- CATE3
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 tenera (PLANTS symbol CATE3).
- 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