Suomi
Svenska
Pale Sedge
Carex pallescens
Identify the Pale Sedge from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.
Pale Sedge is a medium-sized sedge that grows in loose tufts. It is often seen in meadows, along roadsides, in moist or fresh woods and by streams. Its flowering head has one slim male part at the tip and a few denser female parts below that droop as they ripen.
Did you know?
- Its stems feel sharply three-sided—“sedges have edges.”
- The female parts start upright but later bend and hang to one side as the fruits ripen.
About the species
Identification
Forms loose clumps, 20–80 cm tall. Stems thin, solid and sharply three‑edged, upright but often arching near the top. Leaves flat, yellow‑green, 2–5 mm wide, a bit shorter than the stem; old leaf bases often brownish to reddish. Flowering head: one slender male part at the very tip; 2–4 denser female parts below, the lower ones on longer stalks. They start upright but later droop to one side. A long leaf‑like piece at the base of the lowest part sticks out longer than the whole head. Fruits are small shiny sacs that turn brown, each with one hard seed. Similar sedges lack this mix of long basal leaf‑like piece and drooping lower parts with a sharply three‑edged stem. Flowers in Finland in June–July.
Plant group
Grasses, sedges and rushes
Habitat
meadow
Flowering
Jun–Jul
About the habitat
Grows in meadows and field edges, along paths and roadsides, in fresh or moist forests and on stream banks. Common in southern and central Finland; absent from northern Lapland.
Sources
Photo: Lukas Zangl, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6251594032
Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40372
Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40372
Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Carex, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40372
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalvassara
