Carex sylvatica is a species of sedge found in deciduous woodlands across Europe. It typically reaches 60cm (20inches) tall, and has an inflorescence made up of 3–5 pendent female spikes and a single male spike. It is also used as a garden plant, and has been introduced to North America and New Zealand.
Carex sylvatica "resembles a small C. pendula",[1] growing to around 15cm-60cmcm (06inches-20inchescm) tall, or up to 1500NaN0 in exceptional cases.[2] Its rhizomes are very short, giving the plant a densely cespitose (tufted) form.[2] The leaves are 5cm-60cmcm (02inches-20inchescm) long, 3mm7mm wide[2] and 1- thick, with 17–31 parallel veins. The leaves have a slight keel, or are folded gently into an M-shape in cross-section.[2]
The top half or third of the stem bears the inflorescence, typically comprising 3–5 female spikes and a single apical male spike,[2] which may include a few female flowers at its base. The female spikes are each 2- long, and are held dangling on long, rough peduncles, arising from within a long leaf-sheath.[2] The male spike is much thinner, and is 1- long.[2]
Carex sylvatica was first described by the English botanist William Hudson in his 1762 work Flora Anglica.[3] Hybrids have been reported between C. sylvatica and C. strigosa (in France) and between C. sylvatica and C. hirta (in Austria). Its English common name is "wood-sedge",[2] or, in North America, "European woodland sedge".
Carex sylvatica is found across Europe, and into parts of Asia, as far east as Iran.[4] It has also been introduced to North America, where it occurs in Ontario, New York and North Carolina, and to New Zealand,[5] where it was first recorded in 1969.[6]
In its native range, C. sylvatica lives in deciduous woodlands on heavy soils; it is sometimes found in unwooded areas, but usually only as a relic of ancient woodland.[2] In North America, it is generally found in disturbed areas within deciduous woodland.[5]
Carex sylvatica can be used in gardens as ground cover under trees or shrubs.[1] Carl Linnaeus recorded that the Sami people used the plant as an insulating wadding.[7]