Cyperus alatus(Nees) F.Muell.

WFO wfo-0000367511 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Cyperus alatus, photographed by douglaseustonbrown
fig. a douglaseustonbrown, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2021-05-18 / obs. 137116774
Cyperus alatus, photographed by Henry de Lange
fig. b Henry de Lange, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 33721461
Cyperus alatus, photographed by douglaseustonbrown
fig. c douglaseustonbrown, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 137116795
Cyperus alatus, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. d Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15252035
Cyperus alatus, photographed by Henry de Lange
fig. e Henry de Lange, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 33721487
Cyperus alatus, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. f Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15252039
Cyperus alatus, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. g Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15252032

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 31 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus alatus is native: Angola, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBotswanaCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGhanaIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe Seychelles
Native distribution of Cyperus alatus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Seychelles SEY
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 18 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cyperus alatus var. serratus Peter & Kük.
  • Cyperus ascolepidioides (Cherm.) Kük.
  • Cyperus cartilagineus var. laevissimus (Cherm.) Kük.
  • Cyperus cristatus (Kunth) Mattf. & Kük.
  • Cyperus cristatus subsp. ascolepidioides (Cherm.) Lye
  • Cyperus cristatus var. nigritanus (C.B.Clarke) Kük.
  • Cyperus nigripes var. grandiceps Kük.
  • Cyperus nigritanus (C.B.Clarke) Lye
  • Kyllinga alata Nees
  • Kyllinga alba Nees
  • Kyllinga alba subsp. ascolepidioides (Cherm.) Lye
  • Kyllinga alba subsp. nigritana (C.B.Clarke) J.-P.Lebrun & Stork
  • Kyllinga alba var. alata (Nees) C.B.Clarke
  • Kyllinga alba var. diminuta Kük.
  • Kyllinga alba var. laevissima Cherm.
  • Kyllinga ascolepidioides Cherm.
  • Kyllinga cristata Kunth
  • Kyllinga nigritana C.B.Clarke

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.