Species: Carex livida

Pale Sedge occurs in small clumps arising from long, slender rhizomes, and has flowering stems up to 20 cm tall. Leaves are clustered on the lower third of the stem and have a thin pale-bluish waxy coating; they are 1-4 mm wide with long, pointed tips. The inflorescence consists of 2-3, or sometimes 4, loosely clustered spikes. The narrow terminal spike is 7-30 mm long and either is composed entirely of male flowers or has several fruits borne at the top. The lower spikes are composed entirely of female flowers and are borne on short stalks; the uppermost leaf (bract) just below the lowest spike usually exceeds the uppermost spike. Scales that make up the spikes are light or dark brown in color with a green midvein. The perigynia are 2-4 mm long, pale green and glabrous, and elliptic or ovate in outline with a short beak at the tip; the enclosed seed is triangular in cross-section.