Many sedges need to be carefully sought even if you know where they ought to live. The habitats they prefer tend to allow them to merge into the background with their green leaves and greenish fruits or flowers. Carex remota (Remote Sedge) is particularly difficult to discern and at first glance looks can like a tuft of luxuriant bright green grass.

Closer examination reveals the flowers or later in the year fruits which are spaced down the flowering stem such that the last one is a long way, relatively, from the others. The last bract is much, much longer than the inflorescence which is another diagnostic. Other than that it is possibly the most insignificant sedge amongst an army of insignificant sedges.

It grows in shady places and you might well find some by a stream in a wood. It is said to be found all over the British Isles except the far north of Scotland but "ignored" would be more accurate that "found".

In a wood on the Sandstone Trail, Cheshire 24th May 2006

Added on 25th May 2006, updated 25th November 2008, updated 11th March 2010