Fact Sheet: Asiatic Sand Sedge

Plant Conservation Alliance

Asiatic sand sedge is a perennial adapted to coastal beaches and dunes and possibly the only Carex species found in upper beach habitat along the U.S. Atlantic Coast. DESCRIPTION Asiatic sand sedge is a perennial adapted to coastal beaches and dunes and possibly the only Carex species found in upper beach habitat along the U.S. Atlantic Coast. The mature sedge is a coarse and stout member of the genus that forms extensive colonies through cord-like rhizomes that extend many feet under the sand and produce new shoots. Flowering and fruiting occurs April through June and individual plants have either male or female flowers. As with many other members of the genus Carex, the flowers are numerous, subtended by scales, and arranged in spikes at the end of a flowering stalk that is triangular in cross section. A papery sac or perigynium encloses the female flowers, each of which develops into a single-seeded fruit, called an achene. Asiatic Sand Sedge Carex kobomugi Ohwi Sedge family (Cyperaceae) NATIVE RANGE Coastal areas of northeastern Asia Because flowering culms are evident for a relatively brief period during the spring, and some colonies and Asiatic Sand Sedge new infestations may spread extensively without flowering, it is useful to learn to recognize the plant in its sterile form. Asiatic sand sedge may be confused with at least two colonial, rhizomatous native grass species - American beach grass (Ammophila breviligulata) and beach panic grass (Panicum amarum). Leaves of Asiatic sand sedge are longer tapering than those of the above grasses, have a yellow-green rather than bluish-green cast, and small teeth along the margin that are easily felt or seen with the help of magnification. These differences become more obvious when observed in the field. Several species of another sedge genus, Cyperus, sometimes grow on dunes and on wash flats and strongly resemble Carex when not in flower. However, these Cyperus species flower from late summer to fall, have leaves without serrated margins and, unlike Asiatic sand sedge, are weakly to non-rhizomatous.