Cyperus reflexusVahl

bentawn flatsedge

WFO wfo-0000381088 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 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 reflexus, photographed by Florencia Grattarola
fig. a Florencia Grattarola, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-10 / obs. 178011570
Cyperus reflexus, photographed by akt2
fig. b akt2, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174519197
Cyperus reflexus, photographed by Florencia Grattarola
fig. c Florencia Grattarola, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178011577
Cyperus reflexus, photographed by akt2
fig. d akt2, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174519205
Cyperus reflexus, photographed by Roderick Cameron
fig. e Roderick Cameron, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172183979

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 24 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus reflexus is native: Florida, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest, Oklahoma, Texas, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Chile Central, Chile North, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Juan Fernández Is., Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela FloridaLouisianaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SouthwestOklahomaTexasArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBoliviaBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralChile CentralChile NorthCosta RicaEcuadorParaguayPeruUruguayVenezuela
Native distribution of Cyperus reflexus, 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
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Argentina South AGS
Bolivia BOL
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Chile Central CLC
Chile North CLN
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
Juan Fernández Is. JNF
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southwest MXS
Oklahoma OKL
Texas TEX

Not drawn on the map: Juan Fernández Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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 26 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 arenicola Steud.
  • Cyperus baazas Steud.
  • Cyperus brazas Boeckeler
  • Cyperus cyrtolepis var. arenicola (Steud.) Boeckeler
  • Cyperus fernandezianus Colla
  • Cyperus fraternus Kunth
  • Cyperus haematostachys Steud.
  • Cyperus herteri Kük. ex Osten
  • Cyperus juncoides Regel
  • Cyperus pseudovegetus var. arenicola (Steud.) Kük.
  • Cyperus reflexus f. anterna C.B.Clarke
  • Cyperus reflexus f. capitata Osten
  • Cyperus reflexus f. evoluta Osten
  • Cyperus reflexus f. major Maury
  • Cyperus reflexus subf. flaccida Osten
  • Cyperus reflexus subf. glauco-virens Osten
  • Cyperus reflexus var. fraternus (Kunth) Kuntze
  • Cyperus reflexus var. genuina Osten
  • Cyperus reflexus var. macrostachys Boeck.
  • Cyperus reflexus var. macrostachys Boeckeler
  • Cyperus reflexus var. reflexus
  • Cyperus rufescens Torr. & Hook.
  • Cyperus sellowii Link
  • Cyperus sparteus Schrad. ex Nees

and 2 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.