Carex praeceptorum (orth.var. C. praeceptorium) is a species of sedge known by the common names early sedge and teacher's sedge. It is native to much of western North America, from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in wet, marshy habitat such as bogs and lakeshores. This sedge produces small clumps of short, grasslike stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall from a thin network of rhizomes. The thin, grayish to pale green leaves are up to about 15 centimeters in length but shorter than the stems. The inflorescence is a small, dense bundle of a few brown flower spikes. The fruit is coated in a dark colored perigynium.