Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Three-way sedge
Dulichium arundinaceum · includes its varieties and subspecies
Three-way sedge is recorded as native to 38 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 750 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Three-way sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 750 counties, across 38 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 2.6 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Three-way sedge is recorded as native to 38 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 750 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 750 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 19 counties
- Arkansas 7 counties
- California 8 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- Florida 31 counties
- Georgia 22 counties
- Idaho 5 counties
- Illinois 23 counties
- Indiana 25 counties
- Kentucky 17 counties
- Louisiana 3 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 59 counties
- Minnesota 30 counties
- Mississippi 6 counties
- Missouri 13 counties
- Montana 1 county
- Nebraska 7 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New York 56 counties
- North Carolina 50 counties
- Ohio 30 counties
- Oklahoma 1 county
- Oregon 10 counties
- Pennsylvania 59 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 19 counties
- Tennessee 18 counties
- Texas 7 counties
- Vermont 13 counties
- Virginia 64 counties
- Washington 10 counties
- West Virginia 18 counties
- Wisconsin 54 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
- 2.6 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.7 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 18 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Brown
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- 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
- DUAR3
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
- Dulichium arundinaceum (PLANTS symbol DUAR3), 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