Carex lurida

Carex lurida is a wide-ranging perennial graminoid found in a variety of wetland habitats, including meadows, marshes, bogs, fens, seeps, shores of ponds, lakes, and streams, open swamp forests, and ditches. It occurs in the Americas from Newfoundland Island and Nova Scotia west to Ontario, Canada south to Florida and Texas in the United States, Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. There are over 2,500 estimated occurrences, which face threats from development, rights-of-way maintenance, hydrological alteration, invasive species, and other threats in some places. Little is known about trends, but with a large range extent and large number of occurrences, abundant habitat, tolerance of light disturbance, and broad habitat preferences, this species is considered secure.

Carex lurida occurs in the Americas from Newfoundland Island (historic) and Nova Scotia west to Ontario, Canada south to Florida and Texas in the United States, Mexico, the West Indies, and South America (FNA 2002). Range extent was estimated to be over 8 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 2,500 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, 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, large number of occurrences, tolerance of light disturbance, and affinity for typically abundant habitats.