Index / Search / Carex mertensii
§1 Plant — species · Cyperaceae
Carex mertensii Prescott ex Bong.
vernacular Mertens' sedge
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Cyperaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Carex
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -28 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 120 min.
- Precipitation
- 24–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 6–7.7
- Root depth
- 9 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 3.5 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Purple
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Contracting Only
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 4 of 56 Montana counties.
Native · 4 counties
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/CAME6 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2722481 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z