Flea Sedge

Should you walk through a field of ripe flea sedge, you could swear the field is full of fleas! However, those things flying through the air are its fruit. No wonder it is called flea sedge! Flea sedge grows in Western and central Europe and maritime parts of Northern Europe, from Spain to Iceland. In the Netherlands, it is locally numerous in older dune slacks. Texel is one place to find it, much more so than any of the other Dutch Wadden Islands. Furthermore, it grows in un-improved pastures, wet hayland on the inland side of the dunes and bogs. Such habitats are disappearing, taking flea sedge with it. It is a Red List species.