Flora of New Zealand Series

Infl. a terminal umbel-like corymb or reduced to a single head or spikelets. Spikelets compressed or subterete, 1-∞-fld; fls hermaphrodite or the terminal 1–3 occ. male. Glumes distichous. Hypog. bristles 0. Stamens 2–3, or 1. Style 2–3-fid, continuous with ovary, not thickened at base. Nut triquetrous or plano-convex. Annual or perennial, often rhizomatous herbs. Stems lfy at base, or lvs reduced to sheaths. A tropical and warm temperate genus of c. 550 spp.; the N.Z. sp. endemic.

Kükenthal monographed the genus in Pflanzenr. 101, 1935, 1–671, including within Cyperus the genera Kyllinga and Mariscus. Cyperus tenellus Linn. f., C. vegetus Willd. (= C. eragrostis Lam.) and Kyllinga brevifolia are not now regarded as indigenous.