Carex brevior, known as shortbeak sedge and plains oval sedge, is a species of sedge native to North America. The specific epithet brevior means 'shorter' in Latin.
Carex brevior forms dense tufts with short-prolonged rhizomes, the clumps sometimes appearing elongated. The flowering culms are 15–120 cm (5.9–47.2 in) tall with 3 to 5 leaves per culm. Few vegetative culms are produced and unlike some other sedges, they are not strikingly 3-ranked. The leaf sheaths are white and papery and the ligule ...