Cyperus papyrus, papyrus, papyrus sedge, paper reed, Indian matting plant or Nile grass, is a species of aquatic flowering plant belonging to the sedge family Cyperaceae. It is a tender herbaceous perennial, native to Africa, and forms tall stands of reed-like swamp vegetation in shallow water.
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.
Cyperus is a large genus of about 700 species of sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions.
Cyperus rotundus is a species of sedge (Cyperaceae) native to Africa, southern and central Europe, and southern Asia. The word cyperus derives from the Greek κύπερος, kyperos, and rotundus is from Latin, meaning "round". The earliest attested form of the word cyperus is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀓𐀞𐀫, ku-pa-ro, written in Linear B syllabic script.
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.
Cyperus eragrostis is a species of sedge known by several common names, including tall flatsedge, nutgrass, tall nutgrass, umbrella sedge, chufa, Earth almond, zula nuts, edible galingale and pale galingale.
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.
Cyperus odoratus is a species of sedge known by the common names fragrant flatsedge and rusty flatsedge. This plant can be found in much of the tropical and warm temperate world, including South, Central, and North America, Southeast Asia, some Pacific Islands, Australia, New Guinea, Madagascar, and central Africa. It is a plant of wet, muddy areas, including disturbed and altered sites. This species is quite variable and may in fact be more than one species included under one name. In general this is an annual plant approaching half a meter in height on average but known to grow much taller. It usually has some long, thin leaves around the base. The inflorescence is made up of one to several cylindrical spikes attached at a common point. Each of the spikes bears a large number of flat, oval-shaped spikelets. Each spikelet is usually light brown to reddish-brown and has a few to over 20 flowers. Each flower is covered by a tough, flat bract with a visible midvein. The fruit is a flat achene less than two millimeters long.
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.
Cyperus scariosus is a perennial herbaceous plant from Australia and New Guinea.
Cyperus laevigatus is a species of sedge known by the common name smooth flatsedge.
Cyperus iria is a smooth, tufted sedge found worldwide. The roots are yellowish-red and fibrous. The plant often grows in rice paddies, where it is considered to be a weed.
Cyperus gracilis, with the common name is slender flat sedge and slimjim flatsedge, is a sedge native to Australia. The species epithet gracilis refers to the graceful form of the leaves.
Cyperus longus is a species of sedge known by the common names of sweet cyperus and water rush in Africa, or galingale in Britain. It is a tall plant, growing up to a metre in height, with creeping rhizomes and erect, triangular stems, each terminating in an inflorescence. The species grows in shallow water or on damp ground, such as at pond edges.
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 textilis is a sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is endemic to southern parts of South Africa where it grows near rivers and other water reservoirs.
Cyperus croceus is a species of sedge that is native to parts of North America, Central America and South America.
