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Water Sedge

Water Sedge

Carex aquatilis

Identify the Water Sedge from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

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How common: Common

Water Sedge is a tall, narrow‑leaved sedge that often forms dense stands along the edges of water. You can see it on the shores of lakes, ponds, rivers and the sea, and in wet meadows, bogs and ditches.

Did you know?

  • Wind‑pollinated: it releases pollen to the air and the breeze does the rest.
  • Spreads by creeping underground stems, so it can carpet large wet areas.

About the species

Identification

Perennial, grass‑like sedge forming loose tussocks and often dense stands from thick creeping underground stems. 20–100 cm tall. Stems upright, stiff and three‑edged. Leaves narrow (3–7 mm), usually longer than the stem, grey‑green above and shiny yellow‑green below; their edges roll upward, making a shallow gutter. Leaf bases reddish brown. Flowering head with several narrow, dark clusters: male ones at the top, female lower down. Each female flower sits in a small green pouch; later a tiny hard seed ripens inside. Confusable with Carex acuta, whose leaf edges curl downward. Flowers in June–July in Finland.

Plant group

Grasses, sedges and rushes

Habitat

shore

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Shallow, standing or slowly flowing water and wet ground: lake, pond and river margins, seashores, flood meadows, open fens and bogs, ditches, and even tundra sites. Common almost throughout the country; rather rare in Åland and in Central and Southeast Finland.

Sources

Photo: Deniz Wilson, CC0 1.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6320167374

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Sisävedet: humusjärvet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40403

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Carex, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40403

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesisara

See also