Carex barbarae

Botanical Description

Carex barbarae is a herbaceus perennial plant producing clusters of grass-like leaves and spreading freely from its long rhizomes to form large carpets of growth. It can grow around 30 - 100cm tall[ 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. ]. The plant was collected in large quantities by the native peoples, who used the root for basketry. They encouraged and tended the plants in their areas and would harvest it on a sustainable basis every 2 - 4 years[ 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. ]. The plant is still a very desirable asset for basketry and, where the wild habitats still exist, the plant is commonly harvested[ 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. ]. Carex barbarae is one of the most difficult plants for basket weavers in California to obtain due to the elimination of traditional gathering sites and difficulty accessing those still remaining. Valley oak riparian woodlands have diminished to less than five percent of their original range. Carex barbarae, as an understorey dominant, has been reduced even further. Many traditional gathering sites have been eliminated or destroyed. Where gathering sites still exist, access for native people to private or public lands has been difficult[ 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. ].