Cyperus margaritaceusVahl

WFO wfo-0000377519 Accepted WFO 2026-06 6 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–f · 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 margaritaceus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. a Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-03-07 / obs. 65608598
Cyperus margaritaceus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. b Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65608646
Cyperus margaritaceus, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. c Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 59173533
Cyperus margaritaceus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. d Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65608734
Cyperus margaritaceus, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. e Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 59173531
Cyperus margaritaceus, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. f Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 59173537

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 33 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus margaritaceus is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Eswatini, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCaprivi StripCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEswatiniFree StateGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMalawiMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalTanzaniaTogoZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Cyperus margaritaceus, 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
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Caprivi Strip CPV
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
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 4 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 eburneus Thonn. ex Kunth
  • Cyperus margaritaceus var. prorepens Kük.
  • Cyperus margaritaceus var. pseudoniveus (Boeckeler) C.B.Clarke
  • Cyperus pseudoniveus Boeckeler

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.