Cyperus brevifolius
Synonyms
Kyllinga brevifolia Rottb.
Family
Cyperaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Sedges
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
CYPBRE
Conservation status
Not applicable
Simplified description
Grassy turfs up to 30 cm tall, usually much less, with characteristic single green to yellow oval flowerhead usually with three (rarely two or four) long grass-like leaves immediately under this, at the end of flower stalk.
Distribution
Scattered in northern North Island south to Taranaki, also in Westland.
Habitat
Wet pasture and heavily trampled/mown areas such as pathways, wet lawns.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FACW: Facultative Wetland
Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).
Detailed description
The plant has long rhizomes with reddish-purple scales. Flower stems are 1 to 30 cm high, slender, with one to four basal leaves. Leaves are shorter than the flower stems, flat and 1 to 2.5 mm wide. Spikelets many, tightly clustered, each 3 mm long and with one fertile and one sterile glume. Glumes are membranous with the green keel forming a sharp tip; the lower glume has 3 nerves on each side, and the upper has two such nerves. There is a single stamen with two style branches.
Similar taxa
No other sedge has the single oval flowerhead subtended by usually 3 long leafy bracts, with the exception of Rhynchospora colorata, restricted to the Kermadecs, which has a white oval head.
Flowering
Summer to autumn
Flower colours
Green, Yellow
Fruiting
Summer to autumn
Life cycle
Seed dispersed by contaminated machinery.
Year naturalised
1876
Origin
Pan tropical and sub-tropical
Reason for introduction
Unknown, seed or soil contaminant.
Control techniques
Controlled by mowing.
Etymology
cyperus: From the ancient Greek name for sedge, kypeiros
brevifolius: Short-leaved
Attribution
Prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Description from Healy & Edgar (1980).
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.
References and further reading
Champion P. et al. 2020. Freshwater Invasive Species of New Zealand 2020. NIWA publication. https://docs.niwa.co.nz/library/public/FreInSpec.pdf
Healy AJ, Edgar E. 1980. Flora of New Zealand, Volume III. Adventive Cyperaceous, Petalous and Spathaceous Monocotyledons. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 220 p.
Johnson PN, Brooke PA. 1989. Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington, NZ. 319 p.