''Carex vesicaria'' is an essentially

Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...

species of

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

known as bladder sedge, inflated sedge, and blister sedge. It has been used to insulate footwear in Norway and among the Sami people, and for basketry in North America.

Description

''Carex vesicaria'' is a perennial plant with short creeping rhizomes which grow shoots resembling small tufts. It grows to heights of . Its stems are rough near the tip but smoother towards their base. The narrow, ridged and pleated leaves can grow to around in length or more, and have fine toothed edges and sharp points. The fruits are erect, glossy and bulbous. The flower clusters are long and cylindrical in shape and each contains up to 150 developing fruits.

Taxonomy

''Carex vesicaria'' was first formally named by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1753. Many forms and varieties have been named, but no

infraspecific taxa In botany, an infraspecific name is the scientific name for any taxon below the rank of species, i.e. an infraspecific taxon or infraspecies. (A "taxon", plural "taxa", is a group of organisms to be given a particular name.) The scientific names ...

of ''Carex vesicaria'' are accepted in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

's Plants of the World Online .

Distribution

Bladder sedge has a circumpolar, boreo-temperate distribution. It is native to northern North America being recorded over most of Canada and the northern United States, as far south as

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It can also be found in nearly all of northern Europe and northern Asia as far as Japan and Korea. It is widespread in Britain and Ireland although it is absent from the Orkney and Shetland and very rare in the

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

Habitat

''Carex vesicaria'' grows in damp habitats, mostly in

mesotrophic soil Mesotrophic soils are soils with a moderate inherent fertility. An indicator of soil fertility is its base status, which is expressed as a ratio relating the major nutrient cations (calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium) found there to the soi ...

s which are slightly basic, in areas where the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

is at or above the soil surface. It grows along edge of many types of waterbodies, as well as damp depressions in pastures and in wet woodlands. It can also colonise wet areas Where pits have been created for extraction of aggregates such as sand, gravel, or clay. In Britain it has an altitude range of with the highest plants being found at Llyn Gorast in Cardiganshire.

Uses

Harvesting Carex vesicaria in Førstevann

''Carex vesicaria'' was cultivated in North America by indigenous people as its rhizomes were used for basketry, The dried fibres, were sometimes used as thermal insulation in footwear in polar regions, are known as sennegrass, saennegrass or similar, from the plant's

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...

name ''sennegras''.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Carex vesicaria''''Carex vesicaria'' - Photo gallery at Calphotos
{{Taxonbar, from=Q157765 vesicaria Flora of Asia Flora of Europe Flora of North America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus