This ranges from southeastern states to South America. It may be closely related to retrorsus, and is also similar to C. echinatus Ell., a name that has been previously misapplied to C. croceus, while true echinatus was known as C. ovularis (Michx.) Torr. C. croceus was recently reported from Ky. (Mears & Libby 1995, Libby et al. 1997), and is probably adventive in widely scattered localities. Occasional plants have been noted in horticultural situations, and the species may be spreading among potted plants with sandy medium. The spikes of croceus are relatively small and dense (though not strictly globose with a hidden rachis). But the plant varies much in overall dimensions, spike and spikelet size. Existing keys are often hard to use (FNA 23, Y, W; and cited literature). C. croseus is perhaps most similar to refractus and retroflexus (Y), differing from those species in its shorter scales (2.4-3 mm versus 3.3-5.3 mm) and shorter achenes (1.3-1.8 mm versus 2-3 mm). Spikes are usually 8-15 mm long (versus 10-50 mm). Spikelets are highly variable in size, with 1-7 florets.