Porcupine Sedge, Cares hystericina, a fine-leaved Sedge for wet soils and full sun. Porcupine Sedge actively grows during the spring and fall when soil temperatures are cool. It forms a dense to loose tuft of culms with alternate leaves; there are both fertile and infertile shoots. The culms are ¾–2½ feet long, light to medium green, glabrous, sharply triangular in cross-section, and unbranched. The edges of each culm are rough underneath the inflorescence, otherwise they are smooth. Along each culm, there are about 2-3 alternate leaves and withered remnants of older leaves near the base.
Habitats include wet prairies, swamps, grassy fens, sedge meadows, calcareous seeps, marshes (sandy & non-sandy), and ditches. This sedge is often found in wetlands that are calcareous.
This sedge prefers full to partial sun, wet to moist conditions, and soil containing loam, silt, or sand with decaying organic material. Temporary flooding is tolerated.