Flora of North America species comparison

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Cyperus alopecuroides

foxtail flatsedge
Habit Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, coarse.
Culms

trigonous, 150–250 cm × 2–15 mm, glabrous.
Leaves

inversely W-shaped, 30–150 cm × 6–22 mm.
Inflorescences

spikes 1–4, cylindric, 1.5–4 cm × 7–15 mm;

rays 3–9, 10–26 cm; 2d order rays 2–11 cm; 3d order rays 1–4 cm (or absent);

bracts 3–5, ± horizontal, 20–100 cm × 3–15 mm; 2d order bracts 2–7 cm × 2–7 mm; 3d order bracts 2–5 cm × 2–4 mm (or absent);

rachilla persistent, wingless or wing hyaline, narrow, 0.1 mm wide.
Spikelets

50–100, linear, ± quadrangular, slightly compressed, 8–11 × 0.9–1.2 mm;

floral scales 15–30, marginally clear, laterally reddish along midrib, medially green, laterally 3–4 ribbed, medially 3–5-ribbed, ovate, 1–2–1.6 × 1.1–1.3 mm, apex mucronulate.
Flowers

anthers 2, 0.4–0.5 mm;

styles 0.8–1 mm;

stigmas 2, 0.4 mm.
Achenes

dark brown, sessile, ellipsoid to obovoid, 0.9 × 0.4–0.5 mm, surfaces finely puncticulate.

Cyperus alopecuroides
Phenology Fruiting summer.
Habitat Pond shores, stream banks
Elevation 0–30 m (0–100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; West Indies; Asia; Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cyperus alopecuroides has been introduced in Polk County, Florida.

Plants of Cyperus alopecuroides might be confused with C. digitatus; large size and the biconvex achenes with two stigmas characterize C. alopecuroides.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 23, p. 173.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Cyperus > subg. Cyperus
Sibling taxa
C. acuminatus, C. aggregatus, C. amabilis, C. articulatus, C. bipartitus, C. cephalanthus, C. compressus, C. croceus, C. cuspidatus, C. dentatus, C. dentoniae, C. diandrus, C. difformis, C. digitatus, C. dipsaceus, C. distans, C. distinctus, C. drummondii, C. echinatus, C. elegans, C. entrerianus, C. eragrostis, C. erythrorhizos, C. esculentus, C. fendlerianus, C. filicinus, C. filiculmis, C. filiformis, C. flavescens, C. flavicomus, C. floribundus, C. fugax, C. fuligineus, C. fuscus, C. giganteus, C. gracilis, C. granitophilus, C. grayi, C. grayoides, C. haspan, C. hermaphroditus, C. houghtonii, C. hypopitys, C. hystricinus, C. involucratus, C. iria, C. laevigatus, C. lancastriensis, C. lanceolatus, C. lecontei, C. lentiginosus, C. ligularis, C. lupulinus, C. manimae, C. microiria, C. mutisii, C. niger, C. ochraceus, C. odoratus, C. onerosus, C. ovatus, C. owanii, C. oxylepis, C. pallidicolor, C. papyrus, C. parishii, C. pilosus, C. planifolius, C. plukenetii, C. polystachyos, C. prolifer, C. prolixus, C. pseudothyrsiflorus, C. pseudovegetus, C. pumilus, C. reflexus, C. refractus, C. retroflexus, C. retrofractus, C. retrorsus, C. rotundus, C. sanguinolentus, C. schweinitzii, C. serotinus, C. seslerioides, C. setigerus, C. spectabilis, C. sphacelatus, C. sphaerolepis, C. squarrosus, C. strigosus, C. surinamensis, C. tetragonus, C. thyrsiflorus, C. virens
Name authority Rottbøll: Descr. Pl. Rar., 20. (1772)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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