General: Sedge Family (Cyperaceae). Fox sedge is a perennial, clump-forming grass that grows to be 30 to 100 cm tall and spreads up to 60 cm wide. This is a U.S. native. Stems are slender and firm, triangular, brownish at the base and have whitish, thin sheaths that are conspicuously cross-wrinkled near the top. The leaves are narrow, 0.6 cm wide, smooth with rough margins, clustered at the base of the plant and usually taller than the stem, growing up to 1.2 m tall. The inflorescences are made up of densely flowered spikes that are 4 to 10 cm long and up to 1.5 cm wide. Bristle-like bracts, up to 5 cm long, are located at the base of each spike. Staminate flowers are at the top of the spike and pistillate flowers are at the base. The flowers are green and bloom from May through June. The seedheads mature in late summer and spray out from the center of the clump, resembling a fox’s tail. The distinctive inflorescence makes fox sedge easy to identify.

Distribution: Fox sedge is a native species and has been reported in all but two of the continental United States, Nevada and Utah. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site (http://plants.usda.gov).

Habitat: Fox sedge is found near water on moist open ground in swamps, prairie swales, lowland forests, wet ditches, ravines, and along the edges of marshes, springs, lakes, and ponds. It is found with other plant species such as soft rush, wool grass, bulrush, other sedges, brome grass, Virginia wild rye, ox eye daisy, boneset, pye weed, ironweed, golden alexanders, sneezewood, and monkey flower.