Cyperus surinamensis - Tropical Flat Sedge

Tropical Flat Sedge grows as a rhizome-forming perennial herb up to 1.5 m in height when in flower, with a triangular stem. The 3-10 flat leaves are up to 50 cm long with a scabrous margin. The leaf sheath may be pale green to light brown. The incomplete, perfect flowers are arranged in a cluster of 10-20 spikelets in an umbel like corymb. The spikelets are at the end of a triangular shaped flower-cluster-stalk and are subtended by 4-8 leaf like bracts up to 40 cm in length and 5 mm wide. The spikelets are brown at maturity, laterally compressed, up to 1 cm in length. Each spikelet has 15-30 flowers. There is no sepal-cup or flower, and there is 1 stamen. The fruit is a triangular achene at maturity. Tropical Flat Sedge grows along the edges of fresh water wetlands and some wet old fields and roadsides. It is native to South America, naturalized in India (Kerala) and some other parts of the world. Flowering: July-December.