Cyperus erectus(Schumach.) Mattf. & Kük.

WFO wfo-0000372818 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 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 erectus, photographed by Antoinette Eyssell Knox
fig. a Antoinette Eyssell Knox, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-03-08 / obs. 186759134
Cyperus erectus, photographed by douglaseustonbrown
fig. b douglaseustonbrown, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 63037315
Cyperus erectus, photographed by douglaseustonbrown
fig. c douglaseustonbrown, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 63037332

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 40 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus erectus is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGhanaGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe ComorosMauritius
Native distribution of Cyperus erectus, 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
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
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 13 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 erectus f. minor Kük.
  • Cyperus erectus f. pallescens Kük.
  • Cyperus erectus subsp. albescens (Lye) Lye
  • Cyperus erectus var. intercedens (Kük.) Kük.
  • Cyperus erectus var. pleiocarpus (Kük.) Kük.
  • Cyperus erectus var. schlechteri (Kük.) Kük.
  • Cyperus monocephalus F.Muell.
  • Kyllinga erecta Schumach.
  • Kyllinga erecta subsp. albescens Lye
  • Kyllinga erecta var. intercedens Kük.
  • Kyllinga erecta var. pleiocarpa Kük.
  • Kyllinga erecta var. schlechteri Kük.
  • Kyllinga jubensis Chiov.

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.