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perennial greenhead sedge, short leaf spikesedge

Habit Plants perennial, cespitose or not, long-creeping rhizomatous.
Culms

sometimes spaced to 3 cm apart, (5–)12–25(–55) cm, smooth.

Leaves

flat, 2–21 cm × 1.5–3.5 mm.

Inflorescences

spikes 1–3, 4–7 × 4 mm;

bracts 3–4, longest ± erect, others ascending to horizontal, flat, 1.5–18 cm × 1–3.3 mm.

Spikelets

(20–)40–60(–100), pale greenish or reddish brown, ovate, (2.2–)2.5–2.8(–3.2) × (0.6–)0.7–0.8(–1.2) mm;

floral scales laterally 2–3-veined, elliptic to ovate, 1.8–3 × (0.8–)1.1–1.6 mm, midvein not winged, apex mucronate;

stamens (1–)2;

anthers 0.8–1.1 mm;

style 0.6–1.2 mm;

stigmas 0.5–1.5 mm.

Achenes

brown, substipitate or stipitate, ellipsoid to oblong-ellipsoid, 1–1.2(–1.3) × 0.6–0.8 mm, stipe, if present, 0.1–0.2 mm, apex obtuse to subtruncate, apiculate, papillate.

Kyllinga brevifolia

Phenology Fruiting summer.
Habitat Damp grasslands, shorelines, ditches, croplands
Elevation 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; OK; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Asia; Africa; Australia
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Discussion

Reports of Kyllinga brevifolia from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia should be referred to as K. gracillima.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 23, p. 193.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Kyllinga
Sibling taxa
K. gracillima, K. odorata, K. pumila, K. squamulata
Synonyms Cyperus brevifolius
Name authority Rottbøll: Descr. Icon. Rar. Pl., 13, plate 4, fig. 3. (1773)
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