Black sedge

Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.

Scientific name: Carex nigra (L.) Reichard

Common name(s): black sedge, black flowering sedge, smooth black sedge

Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany

Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)

Description:

– perennial

-purple-black scales

-spikes can seem to have a checkered appearance

-lowest bract has no sheath

– may be confused with C. lucorum, which also occurs in wild blueberry fields, especially when not in flower or in early flower. See Go Botany webpage for C. lucorum

Habitat:

-disturbed sites

-meadows

-fields

Natural History:

-was first introduced to Georgia

 

Sources:

Go Botany. “Carex Nigra (L.) Reichard.” Carex Nigra (Smooth Black Sedge): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/carex/nigra/.