Cyperus hermaphroditus(Jacq.) Standl.

hermaphrodite flatsedge

WFO wfo-0000374521 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 6 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 6 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 hermaphroditus, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. a Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / 2017-08-17 / obs. 9949834
Cyperus hermaphroditus, photographed by Juan Carlos Caicedo Hernández
fig. b Juan Carlos Caicedo Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 7426644
Cyperus hermaphroditus, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. c Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 127869530
Cyperus hermaphroditus, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. d Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 90173634
Cyperus hermaphroditus, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. e Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 80538574
Cyperus hermaphroditus, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. f Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 9949836
Cyperus hermaphroditus, photographed by Juan Carlos Caicedo Hernández
fig. g Juan Carlos Caicedo Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 7426645
Cyperus hermaphroditus, photographed by Juan Carlos Caicedo Hernández
fig. h Juan Carlos Caicedo Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 167149667

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 28 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus hermaphroditus is native: Arizona, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Texas, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil South, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Venezuela, Windward Is. ArizonaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestTexasArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil SouthColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruVenezuela Windward Is.
Native distribution of Cyperus hermaphroditus, 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
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil South BZS
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Arizona ARI NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Texas TEX

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 34 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.

  • Carex hermaphrodita Jacq.
  • Carex ruizianus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus alpinus Liebm.
  • Cyperus hermaphroditus var. angustior (C.B.Clarke) Kük.
  • Cyperus hermaphroditus var. condensatus Kük.
  • Cyperus hermaphroditus var. hermaphroditus
  • Cyperus hermaphroditus var. longespicatus (Boeckeler) Kük.
  • Cyperus hermaphroditus var. longiradiatus (Liebm.) Kük.
  • Cyperus incompletus (Jacq.) Link
  • Cyperus incompletus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus longespicatus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus longispicatus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus randuzii Boeckeler
  • Cyperus randuzii var. tenuis Boeck.
  • Cyperus ruizianus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus sertularinus Liebm.
  • Cyperus subambiguus Kük.
  • Cyperus tetragonus Hemsl.
  • Cyperus tonduzii Boeckeler
  • Cyperus tonduzii var. tenuis (Boeck.) Kük.
  • Eleocharis cyperina Roem. & Schult.
  • Kobresia cyperina Willd.
  • Kyllinga incompleta Jacq.
  • Mariscus alpinus (Liebm.) C.B.Clarke

and 10 more.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. 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.