CYPERACEAE

The family 'Cyperaceae', or the 'sedge family', is a taxon of monocot flowering plants that superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 4,000 species described in about 70 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in tropical Asia and tropical South America. While sedges may be found growing in all kinds of situations, they tend to be associated with wet places and poor soils.
Some well-known sedges include the water chestnut (''Eleocharis dulcis'') and the papyrus sedge (''Cyperus papyrus''), from which the Ancient Egyptian writing material was made. This family also includes cotton-grass (''Eriophorum''), spike-rush (''Eleocharis''), sawgrass (''Cladium''), nutsedge or nutgrass (''Cyperus'', a common lawn weed), Elk sedge (''Carex geyeri''), and White Star Sedge (''Rhynchospora colorata'').
The term 'sedge' may sometimes refer to any member of the sedge family, but it often refers only to the genus ''Carex''.^[1]
The feature which distinguishes members of the sedge family from grasses or rushes is that members of the sedge family have triangular stems (with occasional exceptions).^1[2][3]

Contents

Genera

References

External links

Genera

★ ''Becca''

★ ''Blysmus''

★ ''Bolboschoenus''

★ ''Carex''

★ ''Cladium''

★ ''Cyperus''

★ ''Desmoschoenus''

★ ''Eleocharis''

★ ''Eleogiton''

★ ''Elyna''

★ ''Eriophorum''

★ ''Fimbristylis''


★ ''Fuirena''

★ ''Isolepis''

★ ''Kobresia''

★ ''Lepidosperma''

★ ''Lipocarpha''

★ ''Pycreus''

★ ''Rhynchospora''

★ ''Schoenoplectus''

★ ''Schoenus''

★ ''Scirpoides''

★ ''Scirpus''

★ ''Trichophorum''

References

1. Grasslike non-grasses
2. 210. CYPERACEAE Jussieu
3. Glumiflorae: More on Morphology

External links

★ Interactive Key to Carex