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Cyperus longus
Also called Sweet Cyperus, Sweet Galingale
Cyperus longus is a species of sedge known by the common names of sweet cyperus and water rush in Africa, or in Britain galingale (a variant name of galangal, an unrelated plant).
It is a widespread species found across Africa, southern Europe, the Indian subcontinent and western Asia. It incidentally occurs in Wallonia as a native. It is also found in western France, south Wales and southern England, where it may or not originally be native. It has recently (since the 1990s) spread northwards to Flanders and the Netherlands where it occurs in scattered adventive populations. It has also been introduced to Tristan da Cunha and Western Australia.
The thick, long, yellowish rhizomes of these plants are traditionally harvested to distil a sweet-scented oil which is used in the perfume industry. The stalks were formerly traditionally processed into paper. There were also folk medicines made from this plant in Europe, the rhizomes being used for stomach aches and the onset of dropsy. It is used at present as an ornamental plant, used for lining ponds.
Cyperus absconditicoronatus · Cyperus acholiensis · Tapertip flatsedge · Cyperus afroalpinus · Cyperus afrodunensis · Cyperus afromontanus · Cyperus afrovaricus · Inflatedscale flatsedge · Cyperus ajax · Cyperus alaticaulis · Cyperus albopilosus · Cyperus albopurpureus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cyperus longus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
