Cyperus ruwenzoriensis(C.B.Clarke) Huygh

WFO wfo-0001339809 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 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 ruwenzoriensis, photographed by Margaret Burger
fig. a Margaret Burger, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-05-02 / obs. 194834708
Cyperus ruwenzoriensis, photographed by Margaret Burger
fig. b Margaret Burger, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 165206104
Cyperus ruwenzoriensis, photographed by Margaret Burger
fig. c Margaret Burger, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 165206137

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 15 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus ruwenzoriensis is native: Angola, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia AngolaCameroonCape ProvincesDR CongoEthiopiaGulf of Guinea Is.KenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiRwandaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambia
Native distribution of Cyperus ruwenzoriensis, 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
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Rwanda RWA
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM

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 8 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 aromaticus var. elatior (Kunth) Kük.
  • Cyperus oblongus var. ruwenzoriensis (C.B.Clarke) Kük.
  • Cyperus pinguis (C.B.Clarke) Mattf. & Kük.
  • Kyllinga elatior Kunth
  • Kyllinga nervosa var. ruwenzoriensis (C.B.Clarke) Lye
  • Kyllinga pinguis C.B.Clarke
  • Kyllinga polyphylla var. elatior (Kunth) Kük.
  • Kyllinga ruwenzoriensis 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.