Cyperus is a large
genus of about 700
species of
sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions.[2][3]
Description
They are
annual or
perennial plants, mostly
aquatic and growing in still or slow-moving water up to 0.5 metres (20 in) deep. The species vary greatly in size, with small species only 5 centimetres (2 in) tall, while others can reach 5 metres (16 ft) in height. Common names include papyrus sedges, flatsedges, nutsedges, umbrella-sedges and galingales. The stems are circular in cross-section in some, triangular in others, usually leafless for most of their length, with the slender
grass-like leaves at the base of the plant, and in a
whorl at the apex of the flowering stems. The
flowers are greenish and
wind-pollinated; they are produced in clusters among the apical leaves. The
seed is a small
nutlet.[4][5][6]
Cyperus microcristatus (from
Cameroon) and C. multifolius (native to
Panama and
Ecuador) are possibly
extinct; the former was only found once, in 1995, and the latter has not been seen in the last 200 years. The "true" papyrus sedge of
Ancient Egypt, C. papyrus subsp. hadidii, is also very rare today due to draining of its wetland habitat; feared extinct in the mid-20th century, it is still found at a few sites in the
Wadi El Natrun region and northern
Sudan.
Some tuber-bearing species on the other hand, most significantly the purple nutsedge, C. rotundus, are considered
invasive weeds in much of the world.
The
chufa flatsedge (C. esculentus) has edible
tubers and is grown commercially for these; they are eaten as vegetables, made into sweets, or used to produce the horchata in the
Valencia region. Several other species – e.g.
Australian bush onion (C. bulbosus) – are eaten to a smaller extent. For some Northern
Paiutes, Cyperus tubers were a mainstay food, to the extent that they were known as tövusi-dökadö ("nutsedge tuber eaters")[11]
Priprioca (C. articulatus) is one of the traditional
spices of the
Amazon region and its reddish
essential oil is used commercially both by the cosmetic industry, and increasingly as a
flavoring for food.[12][13] Interest is increasing in the larger, fast-growing species as crops for
paper and
biofuel production.
^Win Huygh; Isabel Larridon; Marc Reynders; A. Muthama Muasya; Rafaël H. A. Govaerts; David A. Simpson; Paul Goetghebeur (2010). "Nomenclature and typification of names of genera and subdivisions of genera in Cypereae (Cyperaceae): 1. Names of genera in the Cyperus clade". Taxon. 59 (6): 1883–1890.
doi:
10.1002/tax.596021.
^G. E. Schatz, S. Andriambololonera, Andrianarivelo, M. W. Callmander, Faranirina, P. P. Lowry, P. B. Phillipson, Rabarimanarivo, J. I. Raharilala, Rajaonary, Rakotonirina, R. H. Ramananjanahary, B. Ramandimbisoa, A. Randrianasolo, N. Ravololomanana, Z. S. Rogers, C. M. Taylor & G. A. Wahlert (2011). Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar. Monographs in Systematic Botany.
Missouri Botanical Garden.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Angiosperm Fruits and Seeds from the Middle Miocene of Jutland (Denmark) by
Else Marie Friis, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 24:3, 1985
^Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3–117.
^
abcdBrickell, Christopher, ed. (2008). The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 302.
ISBN9781405332965.