Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Cyperus lancastriensis T. Porter ex Gray
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: July-October
- Field Marks: The distinctive features of this flatsedge are the linear, pointed, 3- to 10-flowered, 50 to 100 or more yellow-brown spikelets that are crowded into dense spikes.
- Habitat: Meadows, woods, fields, not particularly moist.
- Habit: Perennial herb from a thickened crown and a short rhizome.
- Stems: Upright, triangular, usually smooth, up to 3 feet tall, mostly longer than the leaves.
- Leaves: Elongated, smooth or sometimes rough along the edges, up to 1/2 inch wide.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with the spikelets arranged in spikes, with several spikes forming a 6- to 9- rayed umbel, the umbel subtended by 4-7 leaf-like bracts; each spike oval, with the spikelets radiating in all directions; spikelets linear, pointed, 3- to 10-flowered, up to 1/2 inch long, yellow-brown.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Achenes narrowly oblong, rounded at the tip, up to 1/8 inch long.
- Notes: The achenes are eaten by wildlife.
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