Carex cespitosa
{{Short description|Species of grass-like plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Carex cespitosa Kiiminki, Finland 16.06.2013 img 2.jpg
| image_caption = Inflorescence
| image2 = Carex cespitosa area.JPG
| image2_caption = Tufted (caespitose) growth form
| genus = Carex
| species = cespitosa
| authority = L.
}}
Carex cespitosa (Tuft carex) is a species of perennial sedge of the genus Carex which can be found growing in tufts (caespitose), as the Latin specific epithet {{lang|la|cespitosa}} suggests.{{cite book |author=C. A. M. Lidman |title=Bilder ur Nordens Flora |date=1917–1926 |location=Stockholm |page=441 |url=https://runeberg.org/nordflor/441.html}} The name is synonymous with Carex cespitosa f. retorta.{{cite web|title=Carex cespitosa var. cespitosa |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=342728 |website=www.kew.org |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |accessdate=17 August 2014}}
The species is able to hybridise with the common sedge (Carex nigra) to produce a plant {{convert|20|-|50|cm|sigfig=1}} tall, flowering from May to June.{{cite web|author=Arne Anderberg |work=Den virtuella floran |title=Carex cespitosa L. |url=http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/mono/cypera/carex/careces.html |publisher=Swedish Museum of Natural History |accessdate=17 August 2014}} The species can be found in all of Scandinavia, ranging from common to rare, and central parts of Europe, becoming rare to the west and towards the Mediterranean, and including isolated locations in Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula.{{cite journal |author1=Pedro Jiménez-Mejías |author2=Andreas Hilpold |author3=Božo Frajman |author4=Mihai Puşcaş |author5=Jacob Koopman |author6=Attila Mesterházy |author7=Vít Grulich |author8=Kåre Arnstein Lye |author9=Santiago Martín-Bravo |year=2014 |title=Carex cespitosa: reappraisal of its distribution in Europe |journal=Willdenowia |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=327–343 |doi=10.3372/wi.44.44303|hdl=11250/276382 |s2cid=84236065 |url=https://nmbu.brage.unit.no/nmbu-xmlui/bitstream/11250/276382/3/wi%25252E44%25252E44303.pdf |hdl-access=free }}
The species is often found in a mosaic with other Carex, but can become almost entirely dominant. It grows in very moist soil.{{cite book |author=Lars Påhlsson |year=1995 |title=Vegetationstyper i Norden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rt4KsafjxsC&pg=PA449 |publisher=Nordiska Ministerrådet |accessdate=17 August 2014|isbn=9789291205936 }}