Cyperus sphacelatusRottb.

roadside flatsedge

WFO wfo-0000382726 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. a Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-01 / obs. 193386167
Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by kbkash
fig. b kbkash, CC0 1.0 / obs. 189582398
Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. c Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 143583411
Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. d Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 130438375
Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. e Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 123975969
Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. f Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 66240551
Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. g Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 61685439
Cyperus sphacelatus, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. h Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 30354057

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 51 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus sphacelatus is native: Angola, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil West-Central, Central American Pacific Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. AngolaBeninBurkinaBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastLiberiaMadagascarMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil West-CentralCentral American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Cyperus sphacelatus, 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
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Bolivia BOL SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil West-Central BZC
Central American Pacific Is. CPI
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN

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 281 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 12.1 °C 18.9 °C 24.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.0 °C 30.2 °C 32.0 °C
Annual rainfall 1,200 mm 2,354 mm 4,626 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 62 mm 210 mm 972 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 281 research-grade observations of Cyperus sphacelatus 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 6 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 balbisii Kunth
  • Cyperus chromatolepis Steud.
  • Cyperus duchaisingii Steud.
  • Cyperus hexastachyos Sw.
  • Cyperus locuples C.B.Clarke
  • Cyperus nemorosus G.Mey.

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.