Overall plant
Common Name: star sedge
Type: Rush or Sedge
Family: Cyperaceae
Native Range: Southeastern United States, Central America, northern South America
Zone: 7 to 10
Height: 1.00 to 2.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: May to August
Bloom Description: Creamy white with white and green bracts
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Naturalize, Rain Garden
Flower: Showy
Attracts: Butterflies
Tolerate: Clay Soil, Wet Soil
Culture
Best grown in consistently moist to wet soils in full sun to part shade. Tends to prefer more alkaline soils. Tolerant of a wide range of soil types including poorly drained, clay soils as long as they stay moist. Tolerant of salty, ocean air but not direct salt spray. Can grow semi-submerged in shallow water and tolerates periodic inundation with brackish water. Will spread slowly by rhizomes to form dense clumps. Propagate through division of clumps or by seed. Hardy in Zones 7-10.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Rhynchospora colorata, commonly called star sedge, whitetop sedge, starrush whitetop, and white star sedge among other common names, is a grass-like, rhizomatous perennial sedge native to sandy coastal plains, swales, roadside ditches, and marsh edges from the southern United States to portions of the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Mature plants will reach 1-2' tall with a 2-3' spread. The linear, three-angled foliage emerges from slender rhizomes and will reach 4-12" long. Terminal, solitary, round heads of small, creamy white, fertile spikelets emerge in late spring through summer on 15" tall stalks and are surrounded by a ring of 4-7, showy, leaf-like bracts. The bracts can reach up to 5" long and are mostly white with contrasting green tips. Unlike most sedges which are wind pollinated, the showy bracts of this species attract butterflies and other insect pollinators.
The genus name Rhynchospora comes from the Greek rhynchos meaning "snout" or "beak" and spora meaning "seed" in reference to the beaked or pointed achenes common to many species in this genus.
The specific epithet colorata means "colored", in reference to the white color of the bracts.
The many common names of this species refer variously to the white colored bracts, the star-shaped appearance of the ring of bracts, and the moist soils that it prefers (superficially similar to many rushes).
Problems
No major pest or disease problems of note.
Uses
Pond margins, bog gardens, consistently moist areas of rain gardens. Allow to naturalize in wetlands, floodplains, along streams, and other riparian areas in its native range.