459.000 Cyperus L.

MARISCUS Vahl

MONANDRUS Vorster

Description of the genus

Perennial, less often annual, herbs, tufted or with rhizomes or stolons, sometimes producing tubers or bulbs. Culms usually triangular. Leaves usually at or near the base of the culm, the culm base sometimes swollen, 3-ranked, linear and grass-like, the lower ones often scale-like. Inflorescence terminal, often a subumbel-like anthela or congested into a dense head; subtended by leaf-like involucral bracts. Spikelets 1-many-flowered. Glumes distichous. Perianth 0. Stamens 1-3. Stigmas 2-3, if 2, then nutlet dorsally flattened. Fruit a nutlet, usually dorsally flattened.

Comment: The exact occurrence of species in this genus is as yet unknown and the list is incomplete. Some of the species are listed solely on the basis of Malawi being cited in the distribution of the species in Flora of Tropical East Africa.

Worldwide: c. 300 species in warm and tropical countries

Malawi: 42 taxa.

No image yet

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
ajax C.B.ClarkeN,S
albopilosus (C.B.Clarke) Kük.
alopecuroides Rottb.Image
amabilis VahlDescription, Image
angolensis BoeckelerDescription, Image
aterrimus Steud.N
clavinux C.B. Clarke
compressus L.Description, Image
cuspidatus Kunth
cyperoides (L.) KuntzeN,C,SDescription, Image
deciduus Boeckeler
derreilema Steud.S (other?)
dichrostachyus Hochst. ex A.Rich.
distans L.f.N,C,SDescription, Image
dives Delile
dubius Rottb.Description, Image
esculentus L.N,C,SDescription, Image
exaltatus Retz.N
fischerianus A. Rich.
glaucophyllus Boeckeler
hemisphaericus BoeckelerDescription, Image
imbricatus Retz.N,SDescription, Image
involucratus Rottb.N,C,SDescription, Image
kirkii C.B. Clarke
latifolius Poir.
luteus Boeck.N
margaritaceus VahlImage
mollipes (C.B. Clarke) K. Schum.Description, Image
nduru Cherm.N(other?)Description, Image
nyassensis (Podlech) LyeN
obtusiflorus Vahl var. obtusiflorus Image
papyrus L.Description, Image
platycaulis BakerN
pseudoleptocladus Kük.
pulchellus R. Br.Description, Image
rotundus L.N,C,SDescription, Image
rupestris Kunth
schinzii Boeckeler
tenax Boeckeler
tenuiculmis Boeckeler
tomaiophyllus K. Schum.N
vestitus Hochst. ex C. Krauss

Other sources of information about Cyperus:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Cyperus
Flora of Caprivi: Cyperus
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Cyperus
Flora of Mozambique: Cyperus
Flora of Zambia: Cyperus
Flora of Zimbabwe: Cyperus
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Cyperus

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Cyperus
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Cyperus
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Cyperus
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Cyperus
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Cyperus
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Cyperus
JSTOR Plant Science: Cyperus
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Cyperus
Plants of the World Online: Cyperus
Tropicos: Cyperus
Wikipedia: Cyperus

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Malawi: Genus page: Cyperus.
https://www.malawiflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=267, retrieved 19 March 2024

Site software last modified: 12 October 2020 11:05pm
Terms of use