Carex flava

Carex flava is a wide-ranging perennial graminoid in a variety of open wetland habitats, including meadows, fens, partially shaded shrub carrs, and swamps. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring in Europe, Asia, and North America, with a western North American range from Alaska, United States and the Yukon Territories, Canada south to Wyoming west to Washington, and an eastern North American Range from Newfoundland Island west to Nunavut, Canada south through New England to New Jersey west through the Great Lakes region and disjunct in western Virginia in the United States. There are thousands of occurrences, which face threats from development, rights-of-way maintenance, recreational activities, hydrological alteration and succession, and invasive species. Little is known about trends, but with a large range extent and large number of occurrences, abundant habitat, and broad habitat preferences, this species is considered secure.

Carex flava has a circumboreal distribution, occurring in Europe, Asia, and North America, with a western North American range from Alaska, United States and the Yukon Territories, British Columbia, and Alberta, Canada south to Wyoming west to Washington, and an eastern North American Range from Newfoundland Island and Nova Scotia west to Nunavut and Manitoba, Canada south through New England to New Jersey west through the Great Lakes region and disjunct in western Virginia (FNA 2002, Weakley and the Southeastern Flora Team 2025). Range extent was estimated to be over 45 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 thousands of occurrences rangewide (GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, RARECAT 2025, SEINet 2025).

In the southeastern United States, this species has low-level threats from land-use conversion, habitat fragmentation, and bog succession (Southern Appalachian Species Viability Project 2002), with additional rangewide threats including development, rights-of-way maintenance, recreational activities, hydrological alteration, 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.