Flora of North America species comparison

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Cyperus pumilus

low flatsedge
Habit Herbs, annual, cespitose.
Culms

trigonous, 1–35 cm × 0.5–1 mm, glabrous.
Leaves

flat, 5–20 cm × 1–2 mm.
Inflorescences

heads ± digitate, 8–26 mm diam.;

rays 1–6, 0.5–5 cm;

bracts 3–4, ± horizontal, flat, 3–18 cm × 1–2 mm.
Spikelets

6–25, ovoid to linear-lanceoloid, compressed, 4–15 × 1–2 mm;

floral scales 8–28(–40), clear, laterally ribless, ovate, 1.4–1.6 × 0.8 mm, apex awned, awn excurved, 0.3–0.5 mm.
Flowers

stamens 1–2;

anthers 0.2 mm;

styles 0.5 mm;

stigmas 0.3 mm.
Achenes

dark brown to black, sessile, obovoid, 0.6 × 0.4 mm, apex obtuse, apiculate, surfaces minutely punctate.

Cyperus pumilus
Phenology Fruiting spring–summer.
Habitat Disturbed, sandy soils
Elevation 0–50 m (0–200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Asia; Africa (including Madagascar); Indian Ocean Islands; Pacific Islands; Australia [Introduced in North America; West Indies (introduced)]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cyperus pumilus is distinctive because it is our only distigmatic Cyperus with awned floral scales.

Cyperus hyalinus Vahl, a southeastern Asian and Australian species, has recently been collected in Miami-Dade County, Florida (Mears s.n., EIU, VSC). This is an aberrant species sometimes placed in the monotypic genus Queenslandiella as Q. hyalina (Vahl) F. Ballard; it differs from C. pumilus in having deciduous rachillae as well as deciduous floral scales.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 23, p. 163.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Cyperus > subg. Pycreus
Sibling taxa
C. acuminatus, C. aggregatus, C. alopecuroides, 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. 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
Synonyms C. leucolepis, Juncellus leucolepis, Pycreus pumilus
Name authority Linnaeus: Cent. Pl. II, 6. (1756)
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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