Plantain-Leaved Sedge, Carex plantaginea, also known as Seersucker Sedgem is an ornamental woodland sedge with wide, bright green leaves. Showy flower spikes on purple stems arise in spring, floating above the low-growing foliage. The unusually broad leaves are conspicuously puckered, and somewhat evergreen as well. A good border plant along the woodland trail or mixed in a low-growing shade garden. Plantain Leaved Sedge requires a rich, well-drained soil in light to medium shade.
This perennial sedge consists of rosettes of basal leaves, from which flowering stalks about 1-2 feet long occasionally develop. The culms ascend upward or they hang sideways at maturity; they are hairless and green. The basal leaves are up to 12 inches long and 1¼-inch across; they are dark green, widely spreading to ascending, hairless, and evergreen. The blooming period occurs during mid-spring. Pollination is by wind. The achenes are about 2.5 mm. long, ovoid, and 3-angled; each achene has a short beak at its apex that is straight or curves outward, while at the base it has a short stipe. This sedge has fibrous roots and short rhizomes; it often forms clumps of vegetative shoots.
Habitats include rich deciduous woodlands, wooded slopes and ravines, and canyon-like gorges in wooded mountainous areas. This sedge and many ferns prefer the same kinds of habitat and can be found growing in proximity to each other.
Long-Beaked Sedge is, like most sedges, resistant to deer.
It provides shelter for small mammals and food source for migrating song birds when the seeds start to drop in autumn.
As a cool season grass, Long-Beaked sedge will actively grow in the early spring and fall when the soil is cool.