Fox Sedge - Carex vulpinoidea

Carex vulpinoidea, known as Fox Sedge or Brown Fox Sedge, is a native perennial plant native to Michigan and the U.P.. It is a wet sedge, at home around ponds, inland lakes, wetlands, and rain gardens, but it also lives in meadows and forest edges. Reaching 1 to 3 feet in height, this sedge makes an excellent matrix plant filling in between taller focal points. Full sun to part shade.
 
This is a graceful, mounding sedge with early flowers and sprays of gold seed heads resembling fox tails.
 
Illinois Wildflowers reports that this sedge feeds the larvae of several types of skipper butterfly and moths, as well as many other insects. Some birds, including ducks, eat the seeds, while geese may eat the foliage. In large colonies this plant offers nest sites for the Sedge Wren and cover for other birds and mammals.