A native wetland sedge with elongated clusters of pointed fruit coverings. Its stout stems and prickly-looking heads reward a closer look along wet meadows and shorelines.
Awl-fruited Sedge among surrounding vegetation. Select the photograph to browse both images.
Family: Cyperaceae — sedges
Life cycle: Perennial
Height: About 1–3 feet
Habitat: Wet meadows, marshes, shores and floodplain woods
Explore reported observations. Sightings are not a complete range map.
Look in wet ground along shores, riverbanks, marshes and wet woodland openings. Fruiting heads offer more identification detail than foliage alone.
Several sedges have crowded, pointed fruiting heads. Compare the branching pattern, stem structure, leaf sheaths and mature fruit coverings together rather than relying on the head’s outline.
The pointed structures are perigynia, coverings that enclose the small fruits. Their long tapering beaks give the cluster its awl-like appearance. Use a close view to distinguish them from the smaller scales between the flowers.
Grasslike leaves accompany stout, sharply angled stems. The plant forms clumps. Photograph the leaf sheath where it wraps around the stem as well as the entire fruiting cluster.
2 field photographs. Select either image to enlarge it and browse the slideshow.
Explore submitted observations for a view of this species’ reported distribution.
Observation maps show submitted records, not every place the plant occurs. Follow local access rules when visiting a site.
Explore more grasses, sedges and rushes in the field guide.
Photographs and species identification: Brian Woolman, Where’s Wildlife.
Minnesota Wildflowers: Awl-fruited Sedge · Burke Herbarium: Carex stipata
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