| Author | Porter ex A. Gray | |
| Distribution | Occurs mostly in the Piedmont, Sandhills, and inner Coastal Plain; scattered in the Mountains; rare in the outer Coastal Plain.
NJ to OH south to FL and AL; disjunct to AR and MO. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon to fairly common in the Piedmont and inner Coastal Plain, uncommon in the Mountains, but rare in outer Coastal Plain. The State Rank should be at least S4; the editors recommend S4S5. | |
| Habitat | Dry to mesic mixed woodlands, clearings, fields, roadsides. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting July-September. | |
| Identification | This is a tall flatsedge with a "starburst" array of widely spreading flowering stalks at the top of the stem. It is similar to C. hystricinus, but the spikes are broadly elliptical. It is very similar to C. refractus, but the spikes are denser and the scales are shorter (4-4.6 mm vs. 4.5-5.3 mm). | |
| Taxonomic Comments | A synonym is C. refractus var. lancastriensis.
The genus Cyperus is mostly tropical and warm-temperate in distribution; thus, in NC it is much commoner in the Coastal Plain than in the Mountains and Piedmont. Most species have 1-few flowering stems (culms) from grasslike basal leaves, plus a few stem leaves. At the summit is an inflorescence of very open and branched, or tightly packed, spikes, varying among species from brown to golden brown to straw-color to reddish. The arrangement of the spikelets is important, whether like a hand (digitate) or in paired or alternate rows (pinnate); as is the shape of the achene (seed), whether bi-convex in cross-section or triangular. As a group, Cyperus tends to be weedy and readily enters disturbed ground; this is true for many natives as well as all the aliens. In recent years, following DNA research, the genus has incorporated several genera that in RAB (1968) or other manuals were separate: Hemicarpha, Lipocarpha, and Kyllinga. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S3? [S4S5] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FAC link |
| USACE-emp | FAC link |
