Cyperus hermaphroditus (Jacquin) Standley. Hab: Floodplain forests. Dist: TX, south to tropical America.
ID notes: This is a widespread and weedy species in montane regions of Mexico and Central America, but very rare in the flora region, perhaps based mostly or entirely on misidentifications. It is most similar to C. thyrsiflorus and C. lentiginosus, both of which have much looser spikes. The former is a markedly less robust plant with very short rays, narrower leaves and culms, and pale olivaceous or whitish spikelets (vs. straw-colored); the latter has conspicuously cuspidate scale apices (vs. acute in C. hermaphroditus) and broader spikes. See Key ZD.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy: = FNA23, K3, K4, Mex, Tx, Carter & Jones (1997)
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