FoI
Variable Flatsedge
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Variable Flatsedge
aturalized Photo: Gurcharan Singh
Common name: Variable Flatsedge, One-arm sedge, Rice sedge, Small-flower umbrella plant, Smallflower umbrella sedge
Botanical name: Cyperus difformis    Family: Cyperaceae (Sedge family)

Variable Flatsedge is a plant of aquatic and moist habitats. It is a weed of rice fields, but not generally a troublesome one. This is an annual herb with one to many thin, soft erect stems reaching over 30 cm in height. There are usually a few long, wispy leaves around the base of the plant. The inflorescence is a rounded bundle 1-3 cm wide, containing up to 120 spikelets, each long and partially or entirely covered in up to 30 bracted flowers. The flowers are light brown with areas darker brown and sometimes a yellowish or purplish tint. Variable Flatsedge is found in Tropical Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia, in swamps, alongside water edges, in temporary pools, seasonally wet grasslands, and roadside ditches, up to altitudes of 1700 m.

Identification credit: Gurcharan Singh, Tabish Photographed at Tikkar Tal Lake, Morni, Haryana & Imphal, Manipur.

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