Hanging sedge

Growth Habit

Hanging sedge is a large, evergreen, perennial sedge that grows in dense clumps in shaded, moist habitats. Leaves are long, medium green above and dull green to blue green below. Tall stems form long, hanging catkin-like spikes that develop seeds, which spread readily in water.

Leaves

The leaves are long and fairly wide, 31.5 to 51.2 inches long by 0.3 to 0.8+ inches wide. Leaves are medium green above and undersides are green to blue-green, dull.

Flowers

Hanging sedge’s inflorescence is 7.9 inches to 3.3 feet long with a leaf-like bract at the base of the inflorescence. The terminal spike is male and arching while the lateral spikes are female, drooping and cylindrical, commonly noted to be 6 inches long with overall measurements of 3.9 to 11.8+ inches long. These long, hanging, catkin-like spikes are what gives this plant its common names.

Fruit & Seeds

The small seeds (achenes) are three-sided and enclosed in a bottle-shaped bract called a perigynia, which is 2.6 to 4 mm long.

Habitat

Hanging sedge typically grows in moist to wet soils and in partly shaded to shaded environments. In the Pacific Northwest, hanging sedge escapes ornamental plantings and naturalizes in riparian forests, ravines, wetlands, lake shores, parks, trails, roadsides, and in restoration plantings. Click here to see a county-level distribution of hanging sedge in Washington.

Spread Mechanisms

Reproduction

Hanging sedge reproduces by seeds and rhizomes. Each plant is estimated to produce 20,000 or more seeds in favorable conditions and can have a 90% germination rate. Seeds are primarily spread in water.

Mechanical