I was told that this plant resembles Carex plantaginea. I do have C. plantaginea around my property but the leaves of C. plantaginea are not nearly as broad or long and there tend to be more of them. I found 3 of these plants in fairly close proximity and they all had 4 leaves of roughly the same proportions. The plants were found on the edge of a cove forest in the north VA mtns. The area is mostly very wet woodland.
Thank-you both so much for your replies. One thing that puzzles me, is that, in this area there are many species of sedges but I have never seen (by no means an expert) the 4 leaf/blade configuration on several similar specimens. In other words, I could understand if a particular plant had been mangled or was dying and had just 4 leaves/blades but this seems to me to be characteristic of this species...isn't this configuration a bit odd for a sedge? Also, is there an alternative name for Cympophyllus fraserianus because I googled and came up w/only 2 items neither of which had pictures. Thanks!