We analyzed sequence variation for the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene family in Carex section Acrocystis (Cyperaceae) to reconstruct Adh gene trees for Acrocystis species and to characterize the structure of the Adh gene family in Carex. Two Adh loci were included with ITS and ETS sequences in a combined Bayesian inference analysis of Carex section Acrocystis to gain a better understanding of species relationships in the section. In addition, we comment on how the results presented here contribute to our knowledge of the birth-death process of the Adh gene family in angiosperms. It appears that the structure of the Adh gene family in Carex is complex with possibly six loci present in the gene family. Additionally, variation among Acrocystis species within loci is quite low, and there is little phylogenetic resolution in the individual datasets. Bayesian inference analysis of the combined ITS, ETS, Adh1, and Adh2 datasets resulted in a moderately well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships in the section which is discussed in relation to previous hypotheses of relationships.