Cladium mariscus Great Fen-sedge

A tall sedge, up to about 2m in height, growing singly or sometimes tufted, with long, very sharply-toothed, grey-green, keeled leaves and a dense clusters of reddish-brown flowers which are somewhat distant on the finely ridged stems. It is a plant of base-rich mesotrophic marshes and fens, usually with Common Reed (Phragmites australis). It has a patchy and rather coastal distribution in Britain with populations reaching the far north along the west coast of Scotland. It is an important member of the East Anglian fenland flora forming dense swards in places and where it has been used in thaching for centuries.. It is much more scarce in Wales and it is rare in West Glamorgan where it has significant populations in Crymlyn Fen and more rarely along the nearby Tennant Canal and with a small population in reed-dominated fenland near Morfa Dunes in Neath Port Talbot. Prior to the industrialisation of Swansea Bay, when there were probably large areas of suitable coastal fenland between the Neath and Kenfig estuaries, it may have been much more widespread in our area.

Native