CYPERACEAE

SEDGE FAMILY

Raymond Cranfill, except as specified

Annual or perennial herb, often rhizomed, often of wet open places, generally monoecious; roots fibrous, hairy
Stem generally 3-sided
Leaves often 3-ranked; sheath generally closed; ligule generally 0; blade (0) various, parallel-veined
Inflorescence: spikelets variously clustered; flowers generally sessile in axil of flower bract
Flower small, generally wind-pollinated; perianth 0 or bristle-like; stamens generally 3, anthers attached at base, 4-chambered; ovary superior, 1-chambered, 1-ovuled, style 2–3-branched
Fruit: achene, generally 3-sided
Genera in family: ± 110 genera, 3600 species: worldwide, especially temp
Reference: [Tucker 1987 J Arnold Arbor 68:361–445]
Difficult: taxa differ in technical characters of inflorescence and fruit.

CYPERUS

NUTSEDGE, GALINGALE

Gordon C. Tucker

Annual or perennial herb, glabrous
Stems generally > 1, erect, 2–100 cm, 3-angled or round
Leaves basal; blades 0 or linear
Inflorescence: bracts 1–9, leaf-like, spreading or erect; rays < 10 cm; spikelets flat to ± cylindric; flower bracts 2-ranked, 1 per flower, 2–36 per spikelet
Flower bisexual; perianth 0; stigmas generally 3
Fruit (ob)ovoid, generally 3-angled, brown, generally not beaked
Etymology: (Greek: name for 1 sp.)
Reference: [Tucker 1983 Syst Bot Monogr 2:1–85]
Mature fruit generally needed for identification. C. unioloides R. Br. and C. virens Michx. probably only waifs in CA.

Native

C. parishii Britton

Annual 5–25 cm, cespitose
Inflorescence: bracts 2–5, 3–20 cm; rays 1–6, 20–70 mm; spikelets 5–30, 6–22 mm, linear, flat, red, reddish purple, or reddish brown, in open, spheric spikes; flower bracts 8–10 per spikelet, generally ± 3 mm, elliptic, reddish, deciduous, 7–9-veined, midvein green, generally prominent
Fruit 1–1.3 mm, widely elliptic, (dark purplish) brown
Ecology: Streambanks, roadsides
Elevation: 0–800 m.
Bioregional distribution: Southwestern California, Desert
Distribution outside California: to Arizona