Cyperus pectinatusVahl

WFO wfo-0000379343 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, 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 pectinatus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. a Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / 2019-07-23 / obs. 47215708
Cyperus pectinatus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. b Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47215716
Cyperus pectinatus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. c Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47215722
Cyperus pectinatus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. d Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47215697
Cyperus pectinatus, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. e Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47215729

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 36 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus pectinatus is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Caprivi Strip, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCaprivi StripCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEswatiniEthiopiaGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaNigerNigeriaRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Cyperus pectinatus, 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
Caprivi Strip CPV
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
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 5 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.

  • Anosporum nudicaule (Poir.) Boeckeler
  • Anosporum pectinatum (Vahl) Lye
  • Atomostylis cyperiformis Steud.
  • Atomostylis flavescens Steud.
  • Cyperus nudicaulis Poir.

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.