Cyperus

They are annual or perennial plants, mostly aquatic and growing in still or slow-moving water up to {{convert|0.5|m|in}} deep. The species vary greatly in size, with small species only {{convert|5|cm|0}} tall, while others can reach {{convert|5|m}} in height. Common names include papyrus sedges, flatsedges, nutsedges, umbrella-sedges, galingales, and zozoro (from Malagasy). The stems are circular in cross-section in some, triangular in others, usually leafless for most of their length, with the slender grass-like leaves at the base of the plant, and in a whorl at the apex of the flowering stems. The flowers are greenish and wind-pollinated; they are produced in clusters among the apical leaves. The seed is a small nutlet.{{cite book |author1=Gordon C. Tucker |author2=Brian G. Marcks |author3=J. Richard Carter |year=2003 |series=Flora of North America |editor=Flora of North Americaial Committee |volume=23 |title=Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Cyperaceae |pages=141–191 |chapter=Cyperus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 44. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 26. 1754 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter-url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=109010}}{{cite book |author=C. D. Adams |year=1994 |chapter=5. Cyperus L. |volume=6 |pages=423–440 |editor=G. Davidse |editor2=M. Sousa Sánchez |editor3=A. O. Chater |title=Flora Mesoamericana |publisher=Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |location=Mexico City}}{{cite book |author=G. E. Schatz, S. Andriambololonera, Andrianarivelo, M. W. Callmander, Faranirina, P. P. Lowry, P. B. Phillipson, Rabarimanarivo, J. I. Raharilala, Rajaonary, Rakotonirina, R. H. Ramananjanahary, B. Ramandimbisoa, A. Randrianasolo, N. Ravololomanana, Z. S. Rogers, C. M. Taylor & G. A. Wahlert |year=2011 |title=Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar |series=Monographs in Systematic Botany |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden}}

Cyperus species are eaten by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Chedra microstigma. They also provide an alternative food source for Bicyclus anynana larvae.{{cite journal |author1=Rinny E. Kooi |author2=Paul M. Brakefield |author3=William E. M.-T. Rossie |year=1996 |title=Effects of food plant on phenotypic plasticity in the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana |journal=Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata |volume=80 |issue=1 |pages=149–151 |doi=10.1111/j.1570-7458.1996.tb00906.x|bibcode=1996EEApp..80..149K |s2cid=221678693 }} The seeds and tubers are an important food for many small birds and mammals.

Cyperus microcristatus (from Cameroon) and C. multifolius (native to Panama and Ecuador) are possibly extinct; the former was only found once, in 1995, and the latter has not been seen in the last 200 years. The "true" papyrus sedge of Ancient Egypt, C. papyrus subsp. hadidii, is also very rare today due to draining of its wetland habitat; feared extinct in the mid-20th century, it is still found at a few sites in the Wadi El Natrun region and northern Sudan.

Some tuber-bearing species on the other hand, most significantly the purple nutsedge, C. rotundus, are considered invasive weeds in much of the world.

{{Main|List of Cyperus species}}

Around 700 species are currently recognised in the genus Cyperus.{{cite web |url=http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Cyperaceae/Cyperus/ |title=Cyperus |publisher=The Plant List |access-date=20 March 2015}}

Many fossil fruits of a Cyperus species have been described from middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark.Angiosperm Fruits and Seeds from the Middle Miocene of Jutland (Denmark) by Else Marie Friis, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 24:3, 1985 Several fossil fruits of †Cyperus distachyoformis have been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland.Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3–117.

Papyrus sedge (C. papyrus) of Africa was of major historical importance in providing papyrus. C. giganteus, locally known as cañita, is used by the Yokot'an Maya of Tabasco, Mexico, for weaving petates (sleeping mats) and sombreros. C. textilis and C. pangorei are traditionally used to produce the typical mats of Palakkad in India, and the makaloa mats of Niihau were made from C. laevigatus.

In Madagascar, cyperii grasses (zozoro) are a common material for making brooms and mats. Fabric woven from zozoro is often produced and traded by the Sihanaka with other peoples including the once-influential Merina.{{cite book |page=318 |title=Textile Trades, Consumer Cultures, and the Material Worlds of the Indian Ocean: An Ocean of Cloth |year=2018 |first1=Pedro |last1=Machado |first2=Sarah |last2=Fee |first3=Gwyn |last3=Campbell |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-58265-8 }}{{cite book |pages=40–1 |first=Gwyn |last=Campbell |title=An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750-1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-83935-8}} Pottery with zozoro motifs are common among Antsahabeans.{{cite book |page=146|title=Ny Tany Sy Ny Fanjakana, the Land and the State: Archaeological Landscape Survey in the Andrantsay Region of Madagascar |first=Zoë |last=Crossland |year=2001 |publisher=University of Michigan. |isbn=978-0-493-41583-3}} There is a taboo (fady) surrounding one zozoro type C. aequalis as a sacred ancestral plant; in which the grass shall not be cut when the paddy grains yellow or else hail and rain will fail his own crop.{{cite book |page=67 |title=Taboo: A Study of the Malagasy Fady |first=Jørgen |last=Ruud |date=1960 |publisher=Oslo University Press }}

The chufa flatsedge (C. esculentus) has edible tubers and is grown commercially for these; they are eaten as vegetables, made into sweets, or used to produce the horchata in the Valencia region. Several other species – e.g. Australian bush onion (C. bulbosus) – are eaten to a smaller extent. For some Northern Paiutes, Cyperus tubers were a mainstay food, to the extent that they were known as tövusi-dökadö ("nutsedge tuber eaters"){{Cite book|title=Corbett Mack: The Life of a Northern Paiute|last=Hittman|first=Michael|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|year=1996|isbn=9780803223769|pages=[https://archive.org/details/corbettmacklifeo0000hitt/page/274 274–275]|url=https://archive.org/details/corbettmacklifeo0000hitt/page/274}}

Priprioca (C. articulatus) is one of the traditional spices of the Amazon region and its reddish essential oil is used commercially both by the cosmetic industry, and increasingly as a flavoring for food.{{Cite journal | last1 = Atala | first1 = A. | doi = 10.1016/j.ijgfs.2011.11.001 | title = A new ingredient: The introduction of priprioca in gastronomy | journal = International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science | volume = 1 | pages = 61–81 | year = 2012 | doi-access = free }}{{cite web|url=http://www.natura.net/port/hotsite/ekos_priprioca/index.asp|title=Perfumes baseados em Priprioca|author=Natura|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403052219/http://www.natura.net/port/hotsite/ekos_priprioca/index.asp|archive-date=2009-04-03|author-link=Natura}} Interest is increasing in the larger, fast-growing species as crops for paper and biofuel production.

Some species are grown as ornamental or pot plants, notably:

• Cyperus alternifolius syn. C. involucratus (umbrella papyrus){{cite book | editor-last = Brickell | editor-first = Christopher | title = The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants | year = 2008 | page = 302 | publisher = Dorling Kindersley | location = United Kingdom | isbn = 9781405332965}}
• Cyperus albostriatus (dwarf umbrella sedge), formerly called C. diffusus)
• Cyperus haspan{{cite web |url=https://pondinformer.com/dwarf-papyrus-cyperus-haspan/ |title=How to Plant & Grow Dwarf Papyrus (Cyperus haspan) |author= |date=29 January 2021 |website=Pond Informer |access-date=4 January 2022}}
• Cyperus longus{{cite web |url=https://wilde-planten.nl/roodcypergras.htm |title=Rood cypergras – Cyperus longus |last=Dijkstra |first=K.M. |date=2022 |website=Wilde planten in Nederland en België |publisher=K.M. Dijkstra |language=nl |access-date=2 January 2022}}
• Cyperus papyrus (papyrus)

Some Cyperus species are used in folk medicine. Roots of Near East species were a component of kyphi, a medical incense of Ancient Egypt. Tubers of C. rotundus (purple nut-sedge) tubers are used in kampō.

An unspecified Cyperus is mentioned as an abortifacient in the 11th-century poem {{lang|la|De viribus herbarum}}.{{cite book |author=John M. Riddle |year=1994 |title=Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0674168763}}

• Amphoe Nong Prue, a district in Thailand. The name of its capital Nong Prue (หนองปรือ) literally means "Cyperus swamp".
• The sedge Carex pseudocyperus is a related plant convergent in appearance to Cyperus.

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• [http://www.herbarium.lsu.edu/keys/cyperus/cyperus.html CYPERUS interactive identification key by D. M. Ferguson @ LSU Herbarium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150829171038/http://www.herbarium.lsu.edu/keys/cyperus/cyperus.html |date=29 August 2015 }}
• [http://www.herbarium.lsu.edu/keys/ CYPERACEAE interactive identification keys @ LSU Herbarium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709002648/http://www.herbarium.lsu.edu/keys/carex/carex.html |date=9 July 2010 }}
• [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=109010 Flora of China Vol. 23 Page 219, 莎草属 suo cao shu, Cyperus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 44. 1753.]
• [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=109010 Flora of Pakistan, V. 206 Page 89, Cyperus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 44. 1753; Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 26. 1754; Boiss., Fl. Or. 5: 363. 1882; C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 6: 597. 1893; R. R. Stewart, l.c. 86. 1972; Kukkonen in Rech.f., Fl. Iranica 173: 85. 1998.]
• [https://flora.org.il/en/books/plant-stories-2/chapter-1/useful_plants_a4/ Cords and a fishnet from Cyperus & Scirpus]

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Category:Freshwater plants

Category:Cyperaceae genera