SCIENTIFIC NAME: Carex hystericina
COMMON NAMES: Porcupine Sedge, Bottlebrush Sedge
BLOOM TIME: June
PLANT PROFILE:
- One of the “bottlebrush” sedges, resembling the brush.
- Large tufted wetland sedge.
- Yellow-green in color.
- 3 angled or sided stem, 8-30 in. tall.
- Narrow 2mm wide leaves, that are widespread & 5-10” long, smooth on top & rough on bottom.
- Female spikelets are 2 in. long, oblong & drooping, bright green, prickly looking like a bottle brush.
- Male spikelets are slender & oat looking.
- Habitat: full sun & wet conditions, marshes & swamps.
- Found occasional in north and central Illinois.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- A variety of insects feed on wetland sedges, including sedge grasshoppers, semi-aquatic leaf beetles, billbugs, stem-boring larvae of various flies, seed bugs, plant bugs, various aphids, & leafhoppers.
- Larvae of the butterfly Eyed Brown, skippers, & various moths feed on sedges.
- Among vertebrate animals, the seeds & seedheads are an important source of food to waterfowl, rails, & some songbirds.
- Muskrats occasionally eat the rhizomes, culms, & young shoots.