Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges: An Introduction to the Genus Carex (Cyperaceae)

Sedges are among the world’s most diverse and ecologically important plant families, with almost two hundred species in Wisconsin alone. These grass-like plants, found mostly in wetlands, are increasingly popular with landscapers and home gardeners. Learning to identify sedges is challenging, however, and the available technical guides to the sedge family can be overwhelming to a nonspecialist. Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges is a beautifully illustrated introduction to the largest sedge genus, Carex, which alone makes up about 7 percent of the flora of the upper Midwest.

            Written primarily for naturalists, wild plant enthusiasts, and native landscapers, this book is unique in its accessible format and illustrations. With this book, readers can learn to recognize key structures needed to identify approximately 150 Carex species found in Wisconsin. Author Andrew Hipp shows how to identify many of the major groupings of sedges that are used in guides to the genus throughout the world.

           Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges includes information on habitat and range drawn from Hipp’s extensive field experience and inspection of thousands of herbarium sheets. Primarily an identification guide, the book is also a valuable source of habitat information for landscapers, gardeners, and restorationists.


Features:

• Keys to all Wisconsin Carex species, arranged by section

• Distribution maps for all species

• Species descriptions and detailed habitat information for more than 50 common species

• Color illustrations of whole plants or details for more than 70 species

• Appendix summarizing dominant Carex species by Wisconsin habitat

• A glossary of terms

• Water-resistant paperback cover

 

Andrew L. Hipp is herbarium director and senior scientist in plant systematics at the Morton Arboretum as well as lecturer at the University of Chicago. Hipp’s creative work has appeared in Arnoldia, Scientific American, International Oaks: The Journal of the International Oak Society, Places Journal, and his natural history blog, A Botanist’s Field Notes. He is the author of Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges and sixteen children’s books on a variety of natural history topics.

Rachel D.Davis received her M.F.A. in printmaking at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Merel R. Black is a research associate at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and manages the "Plants of Wisconsin" website.