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Cyperus difformis
Also called Smallflower Umbrella Sedge, Variable Flat Sedge, Dirty Dora, Rice Sedge, Small Flower Umbrella Plant, Difformed Flatsedge, Smallflower Umbrella Plant
Variable flatsedge (Cyperus difformis) is a small annual sedge of wet and aquatic habitats, best known as a weed of rice fields. Keep its roots wet or submerged and it will thrive.
Cyperus difformis is a species of sedge known by several common names, including variable flatsedge, smallflower umbrella-sedge and rice sedge. This plant is native to southern Europe, most of Africa and Asia, and Australia, and it is naturalized in other areas of the world, including large parts of the Americas.
Cyperus difformis 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 centimeters in maximum height. There are usually a few long, wispy leaves around the base of the plant. The inflorescence is a rounded bundle one to three centimeters 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.
Tapertip flatsedge · Umbrella Sedge · Jointed flatsedge · Slender flatsedge · Mullumbimby Couch · Cyperus bulbosus · Piedmont flatsedge · Globe flatsedge · Tall flatsedge · Yellow nutsedge · Haspan flatsedge · Smooth flatsedge
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cyperus difformis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
