Cyperus strigosusL.

False nutsedgeStrawcolored flatsedgestrawcolored flatsedge

WFO wfo-0000383103 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cyperus strigosus, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. a Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-04-30 / obs. 195399300
Cyperus strigosus, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. b Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 195406586
Cyperus strigosus, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. c Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 195388781
Cyperus strigosus, photographed by Yann Kemper
fig. d Yann Kemper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 162766975
Cyperus strigosus, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. e Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 159423095
Cyperus strigosus, photographed by mefisher
fig. f mefisher, CC0 1.0 / obs. 157697439
Cyperus strigosus, photographed by Jean Sorensen
fig. g Jean Sorensen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 156571576
Cyperus strigosus, photographed by Katherine Baird
fig. h Katherine Baird, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 160528255

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 52 botanical countries

Regions where Cyperus strigosus is native: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Northwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Cuba AlabamaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico NorthwestMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinCuba DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Cyperus strigosus, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Northwest MXN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Cuba CUB SOUTHERN AMERICA

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 32 in flower of 124 examined

Peak flowering in Aug. Each bar is the share of Cyperus strigosus 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. 32 of 124 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 8 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 22 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 distans Pursh
  • Cyperus enslenii Pursh
  • Cyperus hansenii Britton
  • Cyperus michauxianus var. elongatus Torr.
  • Cyperus naguensis Britton
  • Cyperus praelongatus Steud.
  • Cyperus stenolepis Torr.
  • Cyperus strigosus f. capitatus S.F.Blake
  • Cyperus strigosus f. capitatus (Boeckeler) Kük.
  • Cyperus strigosus f. praelongatus (Steud.) Kük.
  • Cyperus strigosus var. capitatus Boeckeler
  • Cyperus strigosus var. compositus Britton
  • Cyperus strigosus var. elongatus (Torr.) Britton
  • Cyperus strigosus var. hansenii (Britton) Kük.
  • Cyperus strigosus var. naguensis (Britton) O'Neill
  • Cyperus strigosus var. pygmaeus Gatt.
  • Cyperus strigosus var. robustior Kunth
  • Cyperus strigosus var. stenolepis (Torr.) Kük.
  • Cyperus strigosus var. strigosus
  • Mariscus praelongatus (Steud.) C.B.Clarke
  • Mariscus stenolepis (Torr.) C.B.Clarke
  • Mariscus strigosus (L.) 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. 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.