Carex

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Carex

Carex halleriana

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Phylum:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Poales
Family:	Cyperaceae
Genus:	Carex L.

Species

See text

Carex is a genus of plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (although other, related species are also called sedges, those of genus Carex may be called "true" sedges). It is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of Carex is known as caricology, a word reportedly created by Robert Kral, retired botanist at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.^{[citation needed]}

The genus was established by Carolus Linnaeus in his work Species Plantarum in 1753. Estimates of the number of species vary from about 1100 to almost 2000 ^[1]. They are distributed all over the world, but predominantly found in temperate regions.

Most (but not all) sedges are found in marshes, where they can be the dominant vegetation. C. muricata is a rare species which occurs in only a handful of locations within England, and consequently is a protected species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.^{[citation needed]}