Family | Scientific Name | Common Name | Habitat | Distribution | Image |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus acuminatus | Pointed Flatsedge | Wet meadows or depressions, especially in glades, barrens, or woodlands over limestone; also ditches and sidewalk cracks. | IL west to ND, south to w. LA, TX, and n. Mexico (COA, NLE, TAM); disjunct from WA to s. CA; disjunct eastward at scattered localities in VA, NC, GA (Echols 2007), TN, KY, and OH (where probably native), and NY and NH (where probably introduced). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus aggregatus | | Disturbed areas, apparently introduced on ballast, perhaps only a waif and no longer present in some places in our region. | Native of tropical America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus albostriatus | | Disturbed riparian and mesic slope forests. | Native of s. Africa. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus alopecuroides | | Disturbed wet areas. | Native of Old World tropics. Reported for FL in FNA and for MS in Kartesz (2010). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus aristulatus | | Moist ground. | IL, MO, NE, CO, UT, and WA south to TX, NM, AZ, CA, and Mexico. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus articulatus | Chintúl | Marshes, tidal and non-tidal. | Se. SC (formerly) south to s. FL west to e. TX, and south into tropical America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus bipartitus | Slender Flatsedge, Shining Flatsedge | Depression ponds, low fields, ditches, marshes, muddy river shores, along streams, especially in seasonally flooded situations. | ME and QC west to MN and WA, south to FL (Wakulla County) (Kunzer et al. 2009), GA, LA, TX, NM, AZ, and CA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus blepharoleptos | Cuban-bulrush | Ponds and marshes, especially in floating vegetation mats, ditches. | Tropical America; very likely accidentally introduced in the Southeastern US via shipping (first known occurrences in Mobile, AL in 1882 and New Orleans, LA in 1889). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus brevifolioides | Asiatic Greenhead Sedge | River sand bars, tidal marshes, tidal shores, moist soils of pastures and ditches. | Apparently introduced and native of e. Asia. Its distribution in North America is still somewhat obscure (because of confusion with C. brevifolius), but it is currently known from scattered locations in NC, SC, VA, CT, PA, MD, TN, AL, GA, NJ, DE, AR, MS, and KY. Reported for SC by Hill & Horn (1997), as K. brevifolioides. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus brevifolius | Perennial Greenhead Sedge | Moist soils of fields, ditches, lawns. | Pantropical, north in North America to n. NC, se. OK, and CA. Likely to occur in s. VA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus cephalanthus | Buttonbush Flatsedge | Coastal prairies. | LA west to se. TX; South America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus compressus | Poorland Flatsedge | Sandy fields, disturbed areas. | Pantropical and warm temperate, north in North America to s. NY, s. OH, s. IL, and e. TX, the northern extent of the native range uncertain. Reported for s. IN by Bill Thomas (pers.comm., 2022). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus croceus | Baldwin’s Flatsedge | Pine savannas, pine flatwoods, disturbed areas. | NJ and MO south through the New World tropics. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus cuspidatus | | Sandy fields, disturbed areas. | S. SC south to FL, west to LA; New World tropics. Probably only introduced in the Southeastern United States. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus dentatus | Toothed Flatsedge | Low sandy areas, sand and cobble bars, sandy shorelines, Shenandoah Valley sinkhole ponds. | NS and QC south to n. VA; disjunct inland in w. VA, se. TN, and nw. IN. Previous reports from further south in the Coastal Plain appear to be based on material of C. lecontei. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus diandrus | Umbrella Flatsedge | Interdune swales, ponds, exposed river and lake shores, usually where seasonally ponded. | ME west to ND, south to VA, c. TN, n. AL, IL, MO, and IA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus difformis | Variable Flatsedge, Smallflower Umbrella Sedge | Disturbed areas. | Native of Old World tropics. Reported for s. IN by Bill Thomas (pers.comm., 2022). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus digitatus | Finger Flatsedge | Disturbed wet areas. | Pantropical, north in North America to FL Panhandle, LA, and TX. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus distans | | Marshes; probably introduced from tropical America. | Native of Neotropics and Paleotropics. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus distinctus | | Marshes, wet pine flatwoods, wet hammocks, ditches. | E. SC south to Panhandle FL and s. FL; se. LA; Bahamas (New Providence Cay). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus drummondii | Drummond's Flatsedge | Flatwoods ponds, savannas, coastal prairies, ditches, disturbed depressions. | SC south to Panhandle FL, west to e. TX; West Indies; Central America; South America. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus echinatus | Round-headed Flatsedge, Globe Flatsedge | Sandy woodlands, forests, fields, thin soils on outcrops, sand and gravel bars. | CT and NY west to s. OH, IL, and se. KS, south to n. FL, TX, and ne. Mexico. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus elegans | Royal Flatsedge, Sticky Flatsedge | Ditches, wet open areas, coastal rock barrens. | FL, AL, MS, TX, and NM, south to South America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus engelmannii | Slender Sand Flatsedge | Alluvial and other damp to wet soils. | North-central and northeastern North America, MA west to s. ON, MN and NE, south to se. NC and MO. Distribution in our region is poorly known. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus entrerianus | Woodrush Flatsedge | Bottomland hardwood forests, coastal grasslands, marshes, vacant lots, disturbed areas. | Native of temperate South America. Established from E. GA south to s. FL and west to e. and s. TX. Carter (1990), Rosen, Carter, & Bryson (2006), and Carter, Baker, & Morris (2009) discuss the spread of this noxious weed in the Southeastern United States. Bradley et al. [in prep.] report for Coastal Plain of SC (Jasper County). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus eragrostis | Lovegrass Flatsedge | Disturbed wetlands. | Native of tropical America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus erythrorhizos | Redrooted Flatsedge | Marshes, ditches, shores, mud flats. | MA west to ND and WA, south to n. FL, LA, TX, AZ, CA, and Mexico (BCN, TAB, TAM). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus esculentus var. esculentus | Chufa | Apparently sparingly cultivated, and persistent. | Native of Eurasia. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus esculentus var. heermannii | | Disturbed areas. | Native of w. United States and Mexico. Map is particularly uncertain. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus esculentus var. leptostachyus | Yellow Nutsedge, Yellow Nutgrass, Wild Chufa, Earth-almond | Fields, roadsides, shores, other disturbed areas. | The species is widespread in tropical and warm temperate North, Central, and South America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus esculentus var. macrostachyus | Yellow Nutsedge, Yellow Nutgrass, Wild Chufa, Earth-almond | Disturbed areas. | Var. macrostachyus is the main variety in Central America north into s. United States. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus excurrens | Excurrent Flatsedge | Sporadically appearing in exsiccated bottoms of karst ponds in the Coastal Plain. | Known only from sw. GA, perhaps to be expected in se. AL and FL Panhandle. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus filicinus | Fern Flatsedge | Brackish marshes, other maritime habitats. | ME to s. FL, west to LA; West Indies. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus filiculmis | Southeastern Flatsedge | Longleaf pine sandhills, other sandy or rocky woodlands, forests, and fields. | DE and MD south to s. peninsular FL, west to e. TX. Reported as new for DE (Longbottom, Naczi, & Knapp 2016). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus filiformis | Florida Flatsedge | Pine rocklands, coastal strands, rockland hammocks, disturbed areas over limestone, including cemeteries. | S. FL; Bahamas. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus flavescens | Yellow Flatsedge | Low fields, ditches, marshes, especially where seasonally flooded. | Pantropical and warm temperate, north in North America to MA, MI, MO, and KS. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus flavicomus | White-edged Flatsedge | Ditches, marshes, natural or artificial ponds, especially where seasonally flooded. | Se. VA and KY south through the New World tropics. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus floribundus | | Prairies and marshes. | S. TX south to ne. Mexico (TAM). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus fraternus | | Disturbed depressions, ditches. | Reported for several counties in the GA Coastal Plain (Carter, Baker, & Morris 2009) | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus fugax | Withering Flatsedge | | |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus fuligineus | Limestone Flatsedge | Pine rocklands, coastal rock barrens, edges of tidal marshes on limestone. | Florida Keys; West Indies. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus fuscus | Black Galingale, Brown Galingale | Wet, disturbed areas. | Native of temperate Eurasia. See Bryson et al. (1996), Carter, Baker, & Morris (2009). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus giganteus | Giant Flatsedge, "Mexican Papyrus" | Marshes. | Native of tropical America (West Indies, Central America and South America). | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus granitophilus | Granite Flatsedge | Granitic flatrocks, rarely on diabase flatrocks of the Piedmont, Altamaha Grit glades of the Coastal Plain, and sandstone outcrops of the Cumberland Plateau. | Sc. VA south to ec. AL in the Piedmont; disjunct in se. and c. TN on sandstone and limestone and in sc. GA on Altamaha Grit; disjunct in c. TX and s. OK (O'Kennon & Taylor 2015). Plants reported as C. granitophilus by O'Kennon & Taylor (2015) are more closely related to C. squarrosus and are better treated as C. squarrosus var. runyonii (Lowe & Carter 2023). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus grayi | Gray’s Flatsedge | Longleaf pine sandhills, dunes, other dry soils. | NH south to GA and Panhandle FL (Liberty County) (Sorrie & LeBlond 2008). Reports in the Piedmont and Mountains of NC, SC, GA, and AL appear to all be false reports. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus grayoides | Sand Prairie Flatsedge, Illinois Flatsedge | Longleaf pine sandhills, other dry sandy communities. | IL and MO south to w. LA and e. TX. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus haspan | Sheathed Flatsedge | Tidal marshes, other marshes, ponded depressions, low fields, ditches, waterfowl impoundments, weed in rice fields. | Pantropical in distribution, north in North America to se. VA (MD?), sc. TN, c. AR, and c. TX. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus hemidrummondii | Drummond's Half-chaff Sedge | Exposed wet sandy soils. | OH, WI, ND, and MT south to LA, TX, NM, and AZ. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus hermaphroditus | | Floodplain forests. | TX, south to tropical America. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus hortensis | Annual Greenhead Sedge | Moist soils of fields, ditches, lawns, shores of ponds and rivers. | Pantropical, north in North America to e. PA, MO, and e. KS. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus houghtonii | Houghton's Flatsedge | Dry upland sites, shale barrens, rock outcrops, perhaps associated with mafic or calcareous rocks. | MA, VT, and QC west to MN, south to w. VA, WV, nc. NC, and nw. IN. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus hyalinus | Queensland Sedge | Disturbed upland areas. | Native of se. Asia and Australia; known in North America from s. FL. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus hystricinus | Bristly Flatsedge | Dry woodlands and forests, sandhills, other dry or sandy habitats. | NJ south to n. FL, west to e. TX, mostly on the Coastal Plain. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus involucratus | Umbrella-Plant | Cultivated and persistent, also naturalizing in disturbed areas. | Native of Africa. Naturalized north at least to Panhandle FL (Kunzer et al. 2009). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus iria | Rice-field Flatsedge | Marshes, ditches, disturbed wet areas, sandbars and gravelbars. | Native of Old World. Reported for s. IN by Bill Thomas (pers.comm., 2022). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus laevigatus | | Brackish marshes. | Native of sw. North America and New World tropics. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus lancastriensis | Many-flowered Flatsedge, Porter’s Flatsedge | Dry woodlands, forests, and fields. | NJ west to WV, OH, and MO, south to GA, c. MS (Morris & MacDonald 2012), and AR. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus lanceolatus | | Wet places. | Se. GA and ne. FL west to LA and c. TX (?), south into the Neotropics; also Africa. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus lecontei | | Limesink ponds, low pinelands and seepages, interdune ponds, ditches, wet sands along roads, and other disturbed areas. | Se. NC south to s. FL, west to w. LA. Sorrie (1998b) reports it for e. GA (Glynn County). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus lentiginosus | | Open areas, thickets. | S. FL; se. TX south through Mexico and Central America to n. South America; West Indies. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus leptocarpus | | Ditches, moist ground. | Native of Asia and Australia. Reported for Baldwin Co., AL (H. Horne, pers.comm. and iNaturalist observation 2023). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus ligularis | Swamp Flatsedge | Brackish marshes, beaches, disturbed wetlands. | FL and AL south into Mexico, Central America. South America; Africa |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus lupulinus var. lupulinus | Great Plains Flatsedge | Dry sterile soils in fields and meadows. | MA and VT west to MN, south to NC, n. SC, TX; disjunct in ID, WA, and OR. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus lupulinus var. macilentus | | Dry sterile soils in fields and meadows. | ME, QC, and MN south to w. VA, w. NC, nw. GA, and MO. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus metzii | Crested Greenhead Sedge | Lawns, turf farms, athletic fields, golf courses, other disturbed areas. | Native of Asia. Reported for AL by Barger et al. (2012) |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus microiria | | Exposed shorelines, other disturbed wet areas. | Native of e. Asia. Naturalized in CT, DE, KY, OH, MA, NJ, NY, PA, and VA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus nashii | Nash’s Flatsedge | Longleaf pine sandhills and Florida scrub. | E. GA south to s. FL, west to Panhandle FL. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus neochinensis | | Adventive in moist ground, perhaps merely a waif. | Native of s. Asia. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus neotropicalis | American Lipocarpha, American Halfchaff | Riverine sandbars, depression ponds, interdune swales and ponds, borrow pits, impoundment shores, ditches, other moist exposed soil. | Se. VA south to s. FL, west to AL. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus nipponicus | | Disturbed areas. | Native of e. Asia (e. China, Japan, Korea, e. Russia). Reported for s. IN by Bill Thomas (pers.comm., 2022). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus ochraceus | | Marshes, ditches, wet disturbed areas. | Se. GA (Jones & Coile 1988), s. FL, s. AL, s. MS, LA, TX, south into Mexico, Central America, and South America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus odoratus var. odoratus | Fragrant Flatsedge | Low fields, marshes, ditches, sandbars. | Pantropical, north in North America to MA, se. ME, ON, MN, KS, NM, AZ, and CA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus ovatus | | Sandy beaches, maritime forests, and pinelands. | Se. NC south to s. FL, west to s. AL. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus oxylepis | Sharp-scale Flatsedge | Disturbed wet areas, marshes, saline areas. | Native of South America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus pallidicolor | | | Se. and c. TX; sw. NM, and s. AZ south through Mexico and Central America to South America. The reports (BONAP 2021) for se. TX are puzzling and need additional confirmation. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus papyrus | Papyrus | Stream banks, marshes. | Native of Mediterranean Europe, w. Asia, and n. Africa. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus pedunculatus | Beachstar | Ocean beaches. | East coast of c. and s. peninsular FL; West Indies; se. Mexico (ROO, YUC), Central America, and South America; Africa; s. Asia; Australia; Pacific Islands. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus pilosus | | Rice fields, ditches. | Native of e. Asia. See Carter, Baker, & Morris (2009). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus planifolius | | Brackish marshes. | Se. GA (Jones & Coile 1988) south to s. FL; West Indies; Central and South America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus plukenetii | Starburst Flatsedge, Plukenet’s Flatsedge | Longleaf pine sandhills, sandy woodlands, thin soils of rock outcrops, and dry, disturbed areas. | NJ, KY, se. MO, and se. OK, south to c. peninsular FL and e. TX. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus polystachyos | Coast Flatsedge | Low fields, ditches, and marshes. | Pantropical and warm temperate, north in North America to ME, MA, KY, MO, and OK. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus prolifer | Dwarf Papyrus | Pond shores, marshes, ditches. | Native of tropical e. Africa. Also reported for se. VA (Kartesz 2010). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus prolixus | | Disturbed areas. | Native of the Neotropics. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus pseudothyrsiflorus | | Disturbed areas, damp soils. | TX south into Mexico. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus pseudovegetus | Green Flatsedge, Marsh Flatsedge | Marshes, ditches, depressions. | MA and s. NJ, west to s. IL, s. MO, and OK, south to FL and TX. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus pumilus | | Disturbed wet areas. | Native of the Old World, occurring in n. FL and se. GA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus reflexus | | Disturbed wet areas. | OK south to LA, TX, and Mexico. Reported for AL (Crenshaw County) by Diamond (2013b). Native of sw. and sc. United States south to tropical America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus refractus | Reflexed Flatsedge | Dry sandy or rocky woodlands and forests, also in somewhat moister sites. | NJ west to OH and MO, south to SC, GA, AL, and AR. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus retroflexus var. pumilus | | Cropped fields, seasonally damp, disturbed areas. | AL west to NM, south to Mexico. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus retroflexus var. retroflexus | | Cropped fields, seasonally damp, disturbed areas. | AL west to NM, south to Mexico. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus retrofractus | Rough Flatsedge | Dry sandy or rocky woodlands and fields. | NJ west to s. OH, and se. MO, south to GA. AL, and AR. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus retrorsus | Pineland Flatsedge | Dry woodlands, forests, and rock outcrops. | S. NY south to FL, west to TX, mostly on the Coastal Plain, but north in the interior to KY and se. OK. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus richardii | | Open disturbed sites, especially roadsides and lawns. | Native of Old World, known in North America from s. FL. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus rotundus | Purple Nutsedge, Nutgrass, Cocograss, Tulillo | Gardens, fields, disturbed areas. | Pantropical and warm temperate in distribution (though extending less far north than C. esculentus). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus sanguinolentus | | Ditches, disturbed wet areas. | Native of Asia, known in North America from e. GA west to LA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus schweinitzii | Sand Flatsedge | Sandy soils. On dunes in the Great Lakes. | VT, MA, MN, and Albert, south to s. NJ, se. and sw. PA (Rhoads & Block 2007), n. KY, OH, MO, TX, NM, UT, and Mexico (CHH, COA, DGO, JAL, ZAC). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus serotinus | Tidalmarsh Flatsedge | Tidal marshes. | Native of Eurasia. Reported as naturalized in s. NJ, DE, and PA (FNA, Kartesz 1999). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus sesquiflorus | Whitehead Sedge | Moist soils of fields, ditches, lawns, shores of ponds and rivers, sand and gravel bars. | Pantropical, north in North America to ne. NC and se. AR. Likely to occur in se. VA. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus setigerus | Lean Flatsedge | Ditches, pondshores. | MO and NM south to MS, TX. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus species 1 | Diminutive Flatsedge | Infrequent to locally abundant (following soil disturbance) on Florida scrub, stabilized dunes, and sandridges, generally on open white sands, near the coast but also inland on riverine (and aeolian?) dunes. | Se. VA south to s. FL, west to s. MS. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus sphacelatus | | Lawns, disturbed moist areas. | Native of the New World and Old World tropics, likely introduced to FL from the West Indies (Carter et al. 1996). |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus squarrosus var. runyonii | Texas Awned Flatsedge | On sands or granite. | C. OK south to c. TX and s. TX. Reports of C. granitophilus from this area (O'Kennon & Taylor 2015) represent this taxon (Lowe & Carter 2023). | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus squarrosus var. squarrosus | Awned Flatsedge | Moist depressions and seepages on granitic and other rocks, drawdown riverbanks, swales, shores, coastal rock barrens, other moist disturbed sites, cracks in sidewalks and pavement. | Nearly cosmopolitan in distribution, in Old World and New World. The distribution of C. squarrosus var. squarrosus in precolonial North America is very uncertain. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus strigosus var. stenolepis | | Marshes, ditches, wet flatwoods, wet disturbed areas. | NC south to FL, west to TX. Distribution map is quite speculative. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus strigosus var. strigosus | Straw Flatsedge, False Nutsedge | Marshes, ditches, wet flatwoods, wet disturbed areas. | QC west to SD, south to FL and TX; also in w. North America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus subsquarrosus | Smallflower Halfchaff | Riverbank draw-down zones, other moist sandy areas, like seasonally flooded shores of artificial impoundments. | ME west to ON and MN, south to s. FL and TX; south into tropical America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus surinamensis | | Marshes, pond edges, disturbed wet areas. | Se. NC south to s. FL, west to KS, OK, TX, and south into Mexico and tropical America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus tetragonus | Four-angled Flatsedge | Maritime forests and dunes, edges of brackish marshes. | E. NC south to s. FL and FL Panhandle. Reports of the species in s. AL (Woods, Diamond, & Burkhalter 2016) are based on specimens of C. thyrsiflorus. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus thyrsiflorus | Southern Flatsedge | Calcareous woodlands/hammocks, swamp edges, and shell middens. | E. SC south to s. FL, west to se. TX; West Indies; Mexico to South America. |
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Cyperaceae | Cyperus unioloides | | Swamps. | Native of Neotropics and Paleotropics. | |
Cyperaceae | Cyperus virens | | Marshes and ditches. | E. NC south to c. peninsular FL, west to TX; Mexico to Argentina. Also as a chrome ore waif in VA. |
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