Carex disperma

Carex disperma is a wide-ranging perennial graminoid in swamps, bogs, wet meadows, mossy and shady coniferous woods. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring in Eurasia and throughout much of North America, from Alaska, United States and throughout Canada south in the continental United States to New Jersey west to Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. There are over 1,000 estimated occurrences, which face threats from development, rights-of-way maintenance, logging, and invasive species. Little is known about trends, but with a large range extent and large number of occurrences, this species is considered secure.

Carex disperma has a circumboreal distribution, occurring in Eurasia and throughout much of North America, from Alaska, United States and throughout Canada south in the continental United States to New Jersey west to Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, and California (FNA 2002). Range extent was estimated to be over 60 million square kilometers using herbarium specimens, photo-based observations, and NatureServe Network occurrence data documented between 1994 and 2025 (GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, RARECAT 2025, SEINet 2025).

By applying a 1 km separation distance to herbarium specimens, photo-based observations, and NatureServe Network occurrence data documented between 1994 and 2025, it is estimated that there are over 1,000 occurrences rangewide (GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, RARECAT 2025, SEINet 2025).

Although threats are not widely documented, this species is threatened by development, rights-of-way maintenance, logging, invasive species, and other threats in some places, though there is insufficient data, including anecdotal accounts, to understand scope and severity of threats for this species (NatureServe 2025). However, their overall impact is likely negligible given the species' broad range and large number of occurrences.