Carex Red Rooster

Botanical name: Carex buchananii
Synonyms: Carex tenax, Carex lucida var. buchanani
Common name(s): Carex Red Rooster, Buchanan’s sedge, Cutty grass, Leatherleaf sedge

About:
A striking upright native sedge known for its fine reddish-bronze foliage and architectural form. One of New Zealand’s most widely cultivated ornamental sedges, valued for its hardiness, texture and year-round colour.

Natural habitat:
Beaches, lagoons, lake and stream margins, damp open forest, and short tussock grassland from coastal to montane environments.

Growing environment:
Full sun to partial shade with free-draining to permanently damp soils. Tolerates wind, frost and seasonal drought once established.

Endemic distribution:
Endemic to New Zealand. Scattered through the southern North Island and widespread through much of the South Island, though absent from parts of Westland and Fiordland.

Height:
70 cm – 1 m tall

Width:
50–75 cm wide

Flowering:
October – December

Fruiting:
November – June

Uses:

• Architectural garden plant
• Mass planting and groundcover
• Coastal and riparian planting
• Container growing
• Rock gardens and borders
• Colour contrast planting
• Wetland and rain garden use

Appearance:
Growth habit:
Dense upright tufted sedge with stiff erect foliage arising from a short ascending rhizome.

Leaves:
Very fine wiry reddish-brown to bronze leaves, occasionally green, with curled tapering tips and roughened margins.

Flowers:
Small silvery flower spikes held amongst the foliage with separate male and female spikes.

Fruit:
Dark brown to purple-black utricles with long recurved deeply divided beaks.

Ecology:
Seeds are dispersed by wind and animals. Often persists in grazed environments as it is generally unpalatable to stock.

Associated habitats:
Occurs alongside wetland species, coastal sedges, tussock grassland plants and open forest margin vegetation.

How to grow:
Easy to grow in most conditions but performs best in full sun with consistently damp soil. Tolerates poor soils, wind and frost.

Propagation:
Readily propagated from fresh seed or by division of mature clumps.

Cultural use:
Widely cultivated throughout New Zealand and internationally as an ornamental foliage sedge.

Garden value:
Highly valued for its unusual copper-red foliage and fine texture. Excellent for adding movement, colour and contrast to modern native and contemporary landscape plantings.