Cyperus alternifoliusL.

umbrella plant

WFO wfo-0000367583 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. a Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-03 / obs. 202921056
Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by Marc Riera
fig. b Marc Riera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199161181
Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by ELOYJIMENEZ13
fig. c ELOYJIMENEZ13, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194841283
Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. d Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 185995798
Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by Takaaki Hattori
fig. e Takaaki Hattori, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172568579
Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. f Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 126157121
Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. g Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 101990206
Cyperus alternifolius, photographed by Jacky Judas
fig. h Jacky Judas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95874722

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 34 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus alternifolius is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Yemen AngolaBeninBotswanaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesChadCongoDjiboutiDR CongoEritreaEthiopiaGhanaGuineaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNigeriaRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweSaudi ArabiaYemen
Native distribution of Cyperus alternifolius, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Chad CHA
Congo CON
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Saudi Arabia SAU ASIA-TEMPERATE
Yemen YEM

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.

Flowering 170 in flower of 311 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Cyperus alternifolius observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 170 of 311 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 21 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 alternifolius unranked variegatus Veitch ex J.Dix
  • Cyperus alternifolius var. albovariegatus Anon.
  • Cyperus alternifolius var. flabelliformis (Rottb.) M.R.Almeida
  • Cyperus alternifolius var. gracilis Pynaert
  • Cyperus alternifolius var. petersianus (Boeckeler) Kük.
  • Cyperus asperifolius Desf.
  • Cyperus burchellii Schrad.
  • Cyperus flabelliformis Rottb.
  • Cyperus flagellatus Hochst.
  • Cyperus frondosus Salisb.
  • Cyperus gradatus Forssk.
  • Cyperus involucratus Rottb.
  • Cyperus onustus Steud.
  • Cyperus petersianus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus proximus Steud.
  • Cyperus racemosus Wight
  • Cyperus smithii Schrad.
  • Cyperus textilis Thunb.
  • Eucyperus alternifolius (L.) Rikli
  • Eucyperus pungens Rikli
  • Eucyperus textilis (Thunb.) Rikli

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol CYIN6. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.