Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Monocotyledon Literature for Cyperus meyenianus
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999.
   Cyperaceae -- The Sedge Family Bibliography
      Cyperus meyenianus
General Information
DistributionNative to the Neotropics from the West Indies, Brazil and adjacent Uruguay, Paraguay, and northern Argentina.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Maui, Hawai`i. First collected 1922, Skottsberg 1006 (BISH).
















HabitatWet, disturbed sites in mesic to wet forest, especially along trails
Elevation30-1050 m
Habit
 Perennials; culms tufted, 20-50 cm tall, 1-3 mm in diameter near base, trigonous, smooth, thickened at base.
Leaves
 Leaves numerous, herbaceous, linear, as long as to slightly longer than the culm, 3-8 mm wide, flat; sheaths reddish brown or purplish brown.
Flowers
 Inflorescences umbelliform, open, partially compound, 5-10 cm long, 6-18 cm wide, the rays 4-12, slender, stiff, spreading, unequal, up to 10 cm long, each one terminated by a single spike or a secondary umbelliform inflorescence with up to 5 short secondary rays, spikes cylindrical to oblong, 1.5-3 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, densely bearing numerous spikelets; involucral bracts 5-10, the longer ones 3-4 times as long as the inflorescence; spikelets glaucous, bearing 4-6 glumes and 3-4 fertile flowers, spreading, or the lower ones slightly reflexed, linear subulate, 6-10 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, tetragonous, gradually narrowed to an acute apex, rachilla winged; glumes pale yellowish brown, glaucous, herbaceous, suberect and appressed, rather remotely spaced, but overlapping, oblong elliptic, 3-3.7 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, prominently 4-nerved on both sides of midnerve, midnerve green, glaucous, 3 nerved, ending below glume apex or prolonged into a mucro, margins broadly white hyaline.
Fruit
 Achenes brown, tightly surrounded by the subtending glume, oblong and weakly curved, 2-2.5 mm long, trigonous, sides shallowly concave, apex rounded.
Contributor
 Nancy Khan