Cyperus laevigatus

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Smooth flatsedge
Starr 080609-8032 Cyperus laevigatus.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Cyperus
Species:
C. laevigatus
Binomial name
Cyperus laevigatus
L.
Cyperus laevigatus Starr 050128-3310 Cyperus laevigatus.jpg
Cyperus laevigatus

Cyperus laevigatus is a species of sedge known by the common name smooth flatsedge.

Contents

Distribution

Cyperus laevigatus is grows in wet areas, especially in brackish water, wet alkaline soils, mineral-rich hot springs, and other moist saline and alkaline habitat. It is widespread across tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, Australia and various oceanic islands. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Description

Cyperus laevigatusis a perennial sedge growing up to 60 centimeters tall, sometimes in clumps interconnected on a horizontal rhizome. The inflorescence is a small array of cylindrical spikelets with one to three leaflike bracts at the base. The spikelets vary in color from green to reddish to dark brown.

History

In Hawai'i, Cyperus laevigatus is known as makaloa and was used by the people of Ni'ihau to make beautiful plaited mats. Many of the finest examples of plaiting in Hawai'i are made from makaloa. [9]

Ecology

The caterpillars of the tiny moth Chedra microstigma have been found to mine within the leaves of this host plant in coastal marsh in Oahu. [10] [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyperaceae</span> Family of flowering plants known as sedges

The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus Carex with over 2,000 species.

<i>Cyperus</i> Genus of plants

Cyperus is a large genus of about 700 species of sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions.

<i>Cyperus haspan</i> Species of plant

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.

<i>Cyperus polystachyos</i> Species of plant

Cyperus polystachyos, also known as Pycreus polystachyos, and also called manyspike flatsedge in the US, or bunchy sedge, coast flatsedge, many-spiked sedge or Texas sedge in Australia, is a herbaceous species in the family Cyperaceae, widespread in tropical and subtropical areas around the world, sometimes extending its range into temperate regions.

<i>Fimbristylis</i> Genus of grass-like plants

Fimbristylis is a genus of sedges. A plant in this genus may be known commonly as a fimbry or fimbristyle. There are 200 to 300 species distributed worldwide. Several continents have native species but many species have been introduced to regions where they are not native. Some are considered weeds. These are typical sedges in appearance, with stiff, ridged stems and cone-shaped terminal panicles of spikelets. They are found in wet environments, and are most diverse in tropical and subtropical regions.

<i>Cyperus acuminatus</i> Species of plant in Cyperaceae family native to North America

Cyperus acuminatus is a common species of sedge known by several common names, including tapertip flatsedge and pale umbrella-sedge. This plant is native to North America, where it is widespread across the Great Plains and the western United States, with scattered populations in the eastern US as well as in Saskatchewan, Tamaulipas and Coahuila.

<i>Cyperus difformis</i> Species of plant

Cyperus difformis is a species of sedge known by several common names, including variable flatsedge, smallflower umbrella-sedge and rice sedge. This plant is native to southern Europe, most of Africa and Asia, and Australia, and it is naturalized in other areas of the world, including large parts of the Americas.

<i>Cyperus erythrorhizos</i> Species of plant

Cyperus erythrorhizos is a species of sedge known by the common names red-rooted flatsedge or redroot flatsedge. It is found across much of North America from Maine, Ontario and British Columbia south to Tabasco in southern Mexico.

Cyperus niger is a species of sedge known by the common name black flatsedge. This plant is native to the Americas, where it can be found in wet areas from South and Central America to the southwestern United States, from California and Oklahoma south to Argentina.

<i>Cyperus odoratus</i> Species of plant

Cyperus odoratus is a species of sedge known by the common names fragrant flatsedge and rusty flatsedge. This species is quite variable and may in fact be more than one species included under one name.

<i>Cyperus squarrosus</i> Species of sedge

Cyperus squarrosus is a species of sedge known by several common names, including bearded flatsedge and awned flatsedge. It is found in wet environments in North and South America, Africa, Australia, southern Asia and Italy.

<i>Dulichium arundinaceum</i> Species of grass-like plant

Dulichium is a monotypic genus of sedge containing the single species Dulichium arundinaceum, which is known by the common name threeway sedge. This is an aquatic or semi-aquatic plant of the lakes, streams, and ponds of the United States and Canada It has a wide distribution across the two countries, though noticeably absent from the Dakotas and from the Southwestern Deserts.

<i>Kyllinga</i> Genus of grass-like plants

Kyllinga is genus of flowering plants in the sedge family known commonly as spikesedges. They are native to tropical and warm temperate areas of the world, especially tropical Africa. These sedges vary in morphology, growing to heights from 2.5 centimeters to a meter and sometimes lacking rhizomes. They are closely related to Cyperus species and sometimes treated as part of a more broadly circumscribed Cyperus.

<i>Lipocarpha</i> Genus of grass-like plants

Lipocarpha is a genus of sedges known as halfchaff sedges. There are approximately 35 species and representatives can be found throughout the tropical and warmer temperate areas of Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, South America and various oceanic islands. These mostly are erect annual herbs growing 1 to 30 centimeters tall. The inflorescence consists of one to few spikes each containing many spirally arranged spikelets. The flower is entangled with two hyalin scales, a spikelet prophyll and a glume. These flower stands in the axil of a spikelet-bract.

Fimbristylis polytrichoides is a species of fimbry known by the common name rusty sedge, native to east Africa, Madagascar, China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Australia. The plant is common along the coast line and estuaries of Australia. The flowers are a distinctive rusty brown color appearing on a single spikelet from May to July.

<i>Amphiscirpus</i> Genus of grass-like plants

Amphiscirpus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the sedge family containing the single species Amphiscirpus nevadensis, which is known by the common name Nevada bulrush.

Cyperus laxus is a sedge species in the Cyperaceae. It is native to tropical regions of the Western Hemisphere and also to Africa. The species is reportedly naturalized in Assam and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

<i>Cyperus compressus</i> Species of plant in Cyperaceae family endemic to Asia, Africa and the Americas

Cyperus compressus, commonly known as annual sedge, is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that has a wide distribution throughout countries with warmer climates. It is found in tropical areas of Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Cyperus pulchellus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to northern Australia, tropical Africa, northwest Madagascar and Southeast Asia.

Cyperus zollingeri, commonly known as roadside flatsedge, is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to tropical areas of Australia, Africa and Asia.

References

  1. Gupta, A.K.; Juffe Bignoli, D.; Lansdown, R.V. (2018). "Cyperus laevigatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T164060A65923957. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T164060A65923957.en . Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  2. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. Flora of North America
  4. Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2005). Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 52: 1-415.
  5. Govaerts, R. & Simpson, D.A. (2007). World Checklist of Cyperaceae. Sedges: 1-765. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  6. Dobignard, D. & Chatelain, C. (2010). Index synonymique de la flore d'Afrique du nord 1: 1-455. Éditions des conservatoire et jardin botaniques, Genève.
  7. Hoenselaar, K., Verdcourt, B. & Beentje, H. (2010). Cyperaceae. Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1-466.
  8. Lambdon, P. (2012). Flowering plants & ferns of St Helena: 1-624. Pisces publications for St Helena nature conservation group.
  9. Hawaiian Ethnobotany Archived 2007-07-02 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Busck, August (1914). "New Microlepidoptera from Hawaii". Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus. 2 (7): 106.
  11. Zimmerman, Elwood C. (1978). Insects of Hawaii (PDF). Vol. 9 Microlepidoptera. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. pp. 1003–1015.