Widespread in southern Wisconsin, this open wetland community is most typically dominated by tussock sedge (Carex stricta) and Canada bluejoint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis). Common associates of relatively undisturbed sedge meadows are other sedges (e.g., Carex diandra, C. sartwellii), marsh bellflower (Campanula aparinoides), marsh wild-Timothy (Muhlenbergia glomerata), American water horehound (Lycopus americanus), panicled aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum), swamp aster (Symphyotrichum puniceum), iris (Iris spp.), spotted Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum), marsh fern (Thelypteris palustris), and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate). Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) may be dominant in grazed and/or ditched stands, sometimes to the exclusion of virtually all other species.
Sedge meadows are most common in glaciated landscapes, where they often border streams or drainage lakes. The southern sedge meadow community occurred with prairie, savanna, and hardwood forest communities, and many of them apparently burned periodically. In the absence of fire, shrubs and trees are able to readily encroach on the open wetlands. Encroachment can be exacerbated when wetlands are drained. Many sedge meadows in southeastern Wisconsin are influenced by alkaline groundwater and occur in complexes with emergent marsh, calcareous fen, wet prairie, wet-mesic prairie, and shrub-carr. Differentiating between these communities can be difficult, as they frequently intergrade.
