sedge

/sɛdʒ/

Other forms: sedges

A sedge is a grassy plant. Sedges grow all over the world, from the Arctic to New Jersey, with the highest concentrations found in wetlands. You can plant sedge in your yard, but it’ll look kind of wild.

The thing that all sedges have in common is a love of moisture, which is why they're often found in wetlands. Many sedges are fine with poor soil and limited sun as well, which is why some landscapers and gardeners are fans. A sedge looks like a type of tall, wide grass with spiky flowers. The fancy Latin name for sedges is Cyperaceae. Claim to fame: the original Egyptian papyrus was made from a type of sedge.

Definitions of sedge

1. noun

   grasslike or rushlike plant growing in wet places having solid stems, narrow grasslike leaves and spikelets of inconspicuous flowers
   types:

   Cyperus alternifolius, umbrella plant, umbrella sedge

   African sedge widely cultivated as an ornamental water plant for its terminal umbrellalike cluster of slender grasslike leaves

   Cyperus esculentus, chufa, earth almond, ground almond, rush nut, yellow nutgrass

   European sedge having small edible nutlike tubers

   Cyperus longus, galangal, galingale

   European sedge having rough-edged leaves and spikelets of reddish flowers and aromatic roots

   Cyperus papyrus, Egyptian paper reed, Egyptian paper rush, paper plant, paper rush, papyrus

   tall sedge of the Nile valley yielding fiber that served many purposes in historic times

   Cyperus rotundus, nut grass, nut sedge, nutgrass, nutsedge

   a widely distributed perennial sedge having small edible nutlike tubers

   Carex arenaria, sand reed, sand sedge

   European maritime sedge naturalized along Atlantic coast of United States; rootstock has properties of sarsaparilla

   Carex pseudocyperus, cypress sedge

   tufted sedge of temperate regions; nearly cosmopolitan

   cotton grass, cotton rush

   any sedge of the genus Eriophorum; north temperate bog plants with tufted spikes

   Scirpus acutus, hardstem bulrush, hardstemmed bulrush

   widely distributed North American sedge having rigid olive green stems

   Scirpus cyperinus, wool grass

   sedge of eastern North America having numerous clustered woolly spikelets

   spike rush

   a sedge of the genus Eleocharis

   Eriophorum angustifolium, common cotton grass

   having densely tufted white cottony or downlike glumes

   Chinese water chestnut, Eleocharis dulcis, water chestnut

   Chinese sedge yielding edible bulb-shaped tubers

   Eleocharis acicularis, hair grass, needle rush, needle spike rush, slender spike rush

   fine-leaved aquatic spike rush; popular as aerator for aquariums

   Eleocharis palustris, creeping spike rush

   cylindrical-stemmed sedge

   type of:

   bog plant, marsh plant, swamp plant

   a semiaquatic plant that grows in soft wet land; most are monocots: sedge, sphagnum, grasses, cattails, etc; possibly heath