Carex nigra (Black sedge)

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Carex nigra (L.) Reichard

Black sedge, smooth black sedge

These sedges are North American natives, and also native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. These perennial plants are named for the black color of their flowerheads.

Plants: These sedges do not form tufts. They are 4–43″ (10–110 cm) tall.

Leaves: Gray-green, with yellow margins, 1/16–⅛″ (2–4.5 mm) wide.

Flowers: Inflorescences are usually erect. One to two staminate (male) spikes appear atop the culm. Two to three pistillate (female) spikes appear below, each ⅜–1½ ⨉ 1/16–3/16″ (1.2–4.2 cm ⨉ 3–5 mm). This have dark purple-brown or black scales that are quite variable—almost fully black, black with green edges, or green with black edges. The purplish-black flower spikes are up to 4–43″ (10–110 cm) long, and acutely angled. Flowers appear from July to August. The perigynia are pale brown, with red brown or black spots.

Fruits: Achenes.

Habitats: Wet fields and pastures, open wetlands, roadside ditches.

By Barbara Studer

Similar species.

Online References:

The Missouri Botanical Garden

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Wikimedia Commons

Flora of North America

References:

Knobel, Edward, Field Guide to the Grasses, Sedges and Rushes of the United States, Dover Publications Inc., 1980, p. 71

Arsenault, Matt; Mittelhauser, Glen H.; Cameron, Don; Dibble, Alison C.; Haines, Arthur; Rooney, Sally C.; and Weber, Jill E., Sedges of Maine: A Field Guide to Cyperaceae, University of Maine Press, 2013, p. 382

Jenkins, Jerry, Sedges of the Northern Forest: A Photographic Guide (The Northern Forest Atlas Guides), Comstock Publishing Associates, 2019, p. 63

Carex acuta auct. non L.
Carex goodenowii J. Gay
Carex nigra (L.) Reichard var. strictiformis (L.H. Bailey) Fernald
Carex vulgaris Fr.

5/10/2016 · Old Long Loop, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire

5/2/2023 · Brunswick Town Commons, Brunswick, Maine

4/21/2021 · Center Pond Preserve, Phippsburg, Maine · ≈ 4 × 3½″ (10 × 9.7 cm)

9/18/2016 · Barred Island Preserve, Deer Isle, Maine ID is uncertain

6/16/2013 · Sonny and Donna’s, Tenant’s Harbor, Maine · ≈ 4½ × 6″ (12 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain

9/18/2016 · Barred Island Preserve, Deer Isle, Maine ID is uncertain

9/20/2009 · Wild Gardens of Acadia, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine · ≈ 2 × 1′ (62 × 41 cm)

5/10/2016 · Old Long Loop, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire

6/16/2013 · Sonny and Donna’s, Tenant’s Harbor, Maine · ≈ 3½ × 5″ (9.8 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain

9/18/2016 · Barred Island Preserve, Deer Isle, Maine ID is uncertain

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Liliopsida	Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family
Subclass	Commelinidae	Dayflowers and spiderworts, and several others
Order	Cyperales	Flowering plants including grasses
Family	Cyperaceae	Sedge family
Genus	Carex	The “true” sedges
Species	nigra	“Black”

About plant names...

Range: Zones 4-8:

About this map...

Carex nigra description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.