Suomi
Svenska
Mud Sedge
Carex limosa
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Mud Sedge is a small, fine-leaved wetland plant that forms loose patches or single stems. It grows on open bogs and fens, often at the edge of pools or on quaking mats. It is widespread in northern and temperate regions: across Northern and Central Europe, and at similar latitudes in Asia and North America.
Did you know?
- Roll the stem between your fingers: it feels distinctly three-edged.
- It is wind-pollinated, so the flowers are small and greenish.
About the species
Identification
10–40 cm tall. Leaves very narrow (1–2 mm), stiff, bluish-green and shaped like a shallow gutter; shorter than the stem. Stems thin, solid and sharply three-edged, rough near the top; leaf bases reddish-brown. Flower heads are separate: one slender, pollen head at the top, and 1–2 shorter, dense heads below on long stalks that usually droop. Each tiny fruit sits in a small gray-green sac. The narrow bluish leaves plus a top pollen head with 1–2 drooping heads below help tell it from other small bog sedges. Flowers in Finland in June–July.
Plant group
Grasses, sedges and rushes
Habitat
mire
Flowering
Jun–Jul
About the habitat
Open bogs and fens, wet hollows and pool margins; prefers very wet, acidic peat and can grow in shallow water on floating mats. Common throughout the country.
Sources
Photo: Bartosz Czołczyński, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6334531076
Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtön luontopolku, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40384
Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40384
Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Carex, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40384
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutasara
