Cyperus mundii(Nees) Kunth

WFO wfo-0000378143 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cyperus mundii, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. a Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-02-11 / obs. 180236680
Cyperus mundii, photographed by linkie
fig. b linkie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 97912858
Cyperus mundii, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. c Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 15405517
Cyperus mundii, photographed by Noeleen du Toit
fig. d Noeleen du Toit, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 52137320
Cyperus mundii, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. e Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172290941
Cyperus mundii, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. f Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170745348
Cyperus mundii, photographed by kevin koen
fig. g kevin koen, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 106243906
Cyperus mundii, photographed by kevin koen
fig. h kevin koen, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 126367591

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 41 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus mundii is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Spain AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEgyptEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMadagascarMalawiMauritaniaMoroccoMozambiqueNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweSpain Cape VerdeRéunion
Native distribution of Cyperus mundii, 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
Burundi BUR
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Mozambique MOZ
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Spain SPA EUROPE

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 34 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 3.3 °C 8.8 °C 15.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.7 °C 26.5 °C 29.1 °C
Annual rainfall 603 mm 907 mm 2,223 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 15 mm 63 mm 202 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 34 research-grade observations of Cyperus mundii that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

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.

  • Chlorocyperus mundii (Nees) Rikli
  • Cyperus densifolius Kunth
  • Cyperus densifolius Steud.
  • Cyperus distichophyllus Steud.
  • Cyperus eragrostis Clementi ex Willk. & Lange
  • Cyperus mundii f. distichophyllus (Steud.) Kük.
  • Cyperus mundii var. distichophyllus (Steud.) Kük.
  • Cyperus mundii var. glaucus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus mundii var. uniceps (C.B.Clarke) Kük.
  • Cyperus turfosus Salzmann ex Daveau
  • Cyperus turfosus Salzm. ex Kunth
  • Pycreus decumbens T.Koyama
  • Pycreus densifolius Nees
  • Pycreus densifolius (Kunth) Nees ex Cherm.
  • Pycreus mundii Nees
  • Pycreus mundii var. gracilis Cherm.
  • Pycreus mundii var. mundii
  • Pycreus mundtii Nees
  • Pycreus mundtii var. densispiculosus (Kük.) Hoenselaar
  • Pycreus mundtii var. uniceps (C.B.Clarke) Napper
  • Pycreus sanguinolentus var. uniceps 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.