Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

62. Cyperaceae, the Sedge Family

3. Cyperus L. -- Galingale, umbrella sedge

9. Cyperus strigosus L. -- Straw-colored cyperus

Dwarf and tufted to tall and solitary perennial 1-8 dm tall, sometimes flowering the first year, eventually forming a hard, cormlike base; culms slender, sharply trigonous. Leaves shorter than to surpassing the culms, the blades 2-10(15) mm wide, the involucral bracts leaflike, the largest exceeding the inflorescence. Spikelets pinnately arranged and stiffly spreading in several to many cylindrical spikes, often eventually reflexed, the spikes sometimes crowded in dwarf individuals, otherwise mostly on rays 1-12(20) cm long, the longer rays simple (with 1 spike) or often branched above, with few-several spikes in an umbel; spikelets 6-18 mm long, golden-brown, sometimes streaked with red, strongly 7-nerved; rachilla persistent, the scales and achenes falling separately, eventually the rachilla falling as a whole; stamens 3; styles trifid. Achenes tan to reddish-brown, trigonous, oblong, 1.5-2.3 mm long. Jul--Sep. Shores and stream banks, often where sandy; frequent from s SD through NE; (Que. to MN and SD, s to FL and TX; also the Pacific Coast and s into tropical Amer.).
GIF- Distribution Map

Previous Section -- Cyperus odoratus L. -- Coarse cyperus
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