| Cyperus betchei | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Cyperaceae |
| Genus: | Cyperus |
| Species: | C. betchei |
| Binomial name | |
| Cyperus betchei | |
Cyperus betchei is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia. [1]
The perennial sedge typically grows to a height of 0.7 to 1.2 metres (2.3 to 3.9 ft) and produces brown flowers. [1]
The nutlet is noticeably beaked. [2]
It is very similar to Cyperus angustatus , but differs from that species by being more robust, with broader leaves with a rough keel. Also, the darker, shinier spikelets are distinct and spicate, and always fall off when ripe, when in development they have a small, very acuminate beak. The winged rachilla projects. [2]
The species was first collected in January 1883 in Narrabri, a town in the Australian state of New South Wales, by the German botanist Ernst Betche. [2]
Subsequently, this holotype specimen was kept at the National Herbarium of Victoria and ignored for over half a century, until 1936, when Georg Kükenthal first described it as a variety of Cyperus angustatus in Engler's Das Pflanzenreich . Soon afterwards, in his article 1940 Notes on Australian Cyperaceae, III, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, the botanist Stanley Thatcher Blake gave his opinion that the taxon should better be regarded as a full species, and formally promoted it to such, giving a somewhat revised and expanded treatment. The basionym is thus Kükenthal's C. angustatus var. betchei, which is now regarded as a homotypic synonym. [3] [2]
Both Kükenthal and Blake classified C. betchei in the section pinnataeKük., a section Blake writes he considers a "most difficult group". He writes that one should not consider his taxonomy to be the final say on the subject, finding the species in this group a confusing lot (Blake mentions C. angustatus, C. betchei, C. carinatus, C. clarus, C. dactylotes, C. fulvus, C. gilesii, C. oxycarpus, C. perangustus and C. rigidellus), but that he was merely trying to advance our understanding of these sedges. [2]
There are two known subspecies:
In Western Australia it is found in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Goldfields-Esperance regions. [1] It is also found in seasonally wet areas through the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. [3]
It grows in sandy-loamy soils in Western Australia. [1] It grows in drier regions, [2] with wet seasons. [3]
Cyperus haspan is a dwarf papyrus sedge in the Cyperaceae. It is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions in Africa, Madagascar, southern Asia, New Guinea, Australia, South America, West Indies, Central America, southern Mexico and the southeastern United States.
Gahnia is a genus of sedges native to China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and a number of Pacific Islands. The common name is due to the toothed margins. It often forms tussocks.
Cyperus alterniflorus, commonly known as umbrella flat-sedge, is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
Cyperus blakeanus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
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Cyperus flaccidus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
Cyperus gilesii, commonly known as Giles' flat-sedge, is a sedge of the Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
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Cyperus javanicus, also known as the Javanese flatsedge, is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Indonesia and Australia.
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Cyperus orgadophilus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia, in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland.
Cyperus oxycarpus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
Cyperus pulchellus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to northern Australia, tropical Africa, northwest Madagascar and Southeast Asia.
Cyperus pygmaeus, also known as dwarf flat sedge, is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
Cyperus rigidellus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
Cyperus vaginatus, commonly known as stiff-leaf sedge or stiff flat-sedge, is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to Australia.
Cyperus viscidulus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to north western Australia.
Cyperus vorsteri is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae native to southern Africa.
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