Cyperus pilosusVahl

fuzzy flatsedge

WFO wfo-0000379694 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cyperus pilosus, photographed by chiuluan
fig. a chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-08 / obs. 195925932
Cyperus pilosus, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. b Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 186369460
Cyperus pilosus, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. c Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 180052100
Cyperus pilosus, photographed by chiuluan
fig. d chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 136244201
Cyperus pilosus, photographed by chiuluan
fig. e chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 114719500
Cyperus pilosus, photographed by 葉子
fig. f 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 100636082
Cyperus pilosus, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. g Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 106645222
Cyperus pilosus, photographed by Eugene Popov
fig. h Eugene Popov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47699071

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 32 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus pilosus is native: China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Tibet, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, New South Wales, Queensland, Caroline Is. China North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanTaiwanTibetAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamNew South WalesQueensland Nansei-shotoAndaman Is.Nicobar Is.Caroline Is.
Native distribution of Cyperus pilosus, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC

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.

Flowering 30 in flower of 35 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Cyperus pilosus observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 30 of 35 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 10 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 28 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 donianus A.Dietr.
  • Cyperus fimbriatus Nees
  • Cyperus hebes Steud.
  • Cyperus heyneanus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus honestus Kunth
  • Cyperus marginellus Nees
  • Cyperus obliquus Nees
  • Cyperus paniculatus D.Don
  • Cyperus pauciflorus Steud.
  • Cyperus pilosus f. badius Kuntze
  • Cyperus pilosus f. pallidus Kuntze
  • Cyperus pilosus var. contractus (Miq.) Kük.
  • Cyperus pilosus var. fimbriatus (Nees) Kük.
  • Cyperus pilosus var. laevirhachis Kük.
  • Cyperus pilosus var. muticus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus pilosus var. obliquus (Nees) C.B.Clarke
  • Cyperus pilosus var. pauciflorus L.K.Dai
  • Cyperus pilosus var. pilosus
  • Cyperus pilosus var. polyanthus C.B.Clarke
  • Cyperus pilosus var. pseudobabakensis Kük.
  • Cyperus pilosus var. purpurascens L.K.Dai
  • Cyperus piptolepis Steud.
  • Cyperus piptolepis var. contractus Miq.
  • Cyperus piptolepis var. pyrophytus Miq.

and 4 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.