showy sedge

Carex spectabilis produces clusters of stems 50 to 90 centimeters in maximum height, sometimes from rhizomes. The inflorescence is an erect to heavily nodding cluster of flowers covered in dark purplish scales. The fruit is coated in a perigynium which is pale yellowish to dark purple to black.

This sedge is native to northwestern North America from Alaska to the Northwestern United States, and in California and Utah. Carex spectabilis grows in moist mountain habitat in subalpine to alpine climates.