Rice flat-sedge (Cyperus iria)

Rice flat-sedge (Cyperus iria) is a plant species in Cyperaceae, an annual grass that grows in seasonally wet places, open or shady fields, swamps, ponds, paddy fields, roadsides, open forest, secondary forest and shrubs at altitudes up to 1800 meters.

C. iria has erect stems, triangular in shape, 10-50 cm high from very short rhizomes. Ribbon-shaped leaves and midrib, narrow and long, pointed tip, smooth, shiny, green, growing at the bottom and at the top of the stem.



Terminal flowers appear at the end of the stem and are cylindrical spikelets. Each stem bears from two to seven flowers, each having a long stalk which grows terminally at the end of the stem together with the leaves and is green in color.

This species grows solitary or in small groups that are widely spaced. Propagating using vegetative and generative methods using seeds.

These grasses are often classified as common weeds in gardens but some are invasive. The plant is sometimes cultivated for its edible root in parts of Africa where the rhizomes are roasted and the roots are used for brushes.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Subfamily: Cyperoideae
Tribe: Cypereae
Genus: Cyperus L. in Sp. Pl.: 44 (1753)
Species: Cyperus iria L. in Sp. Pl.: 45 (1753)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Chlorocyperus iria (L.) Rikli in Jahrb. Wiss. Bot. 27: 564 (1895)
Cyperus iria var. typicus Domin in Biblioth. Bot. 20(85): 428 (1915)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Cyperus chrysomelinus Link in Hort. Berol. 2: 305 (1833)
Cyperus diaphaniria Steud. in Syn. Pl. Glumac. 2: 23 (1854)
Cyperus iria f. chrysomelinus (Link) Kük. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 20(Heft 101): 151 (1935)
Cyperus iria f. diaphaniria (Steud.) Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind. 3: 270 (1856)
Cyperus iria var. flavescens Benth. in Fl. Austral. 7: 276 (1878)
Cyperus iria f. flavescens (Benth.) Domin (1915)
Cyperus iria f. multiflora Domin (1915)
Cyperus iria var. paniciformis (Franch. & Sav.) C.B.Clarke in J.D.Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 6: 607 (1893)
Cyperus iria var. santonici (Rottb.) Fernald & Griscom in Rhodora 37: 147 (1935)
Cyperus microlepis Baker in Fl. Mauritius: 410 (1877)
Cyperus nangtciangensis Pamp. in Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital., n.s., 22: 260 (1915)
Cyperus paniciformis Franch. & Sav. in Enum. Pl. Jap. 2: 537 (1878)
Cyperus panicoides Lam. in Tabl. Encycl. 1: 145 (1791)
Cyperus resinosus Hochst. ex Steud. (1854)
Cyperus santonici Rottb. in Descr. Icon. Rar. Pl.: 41 (1773)

PUBLICATIONS

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Barry, J. P. & Celles, J.S. (1991). Flore de Mauritanie 2: 360-550. Centre Regional de Documentation Pedagogique, Nice.

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Chang, C.S., Kim, H. & Chang, K.S. (2014). Provisional checklist of vascular plants for the Korea peninsula flora (KPF): 1-660. DESIGNPOST.

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Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Edwards, S., Demissew, S., & Hedberg, I. (eds.) (1997). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea 6: i-xxviii, 1-586. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia & The Department of Systematic Botany, Upps.

Espejo Serna, A. & López-Ferrari, A.R. (1997). Las Monocotiledóneas Mexicanas una Sinopsis Florística 5: 1-98. Consejo Nacional de la Flora de México, México D.F.

Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].

Govaerts, R. & Simpson, D.A. (2007). World Checklist of Cyperaceae. Sedges: 1-765. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.

Hammel, B.E. & al. (2003). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 2: 1-694. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Hassler, M. & Muer, T. (2022). Flora Germanica: alle Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Deutschlands in Text und Bild 1: 1-864. Verlag Regionalkultur, Uberstadt-Weiher.

Hoenselaar, K., Verdcourt, B. & Beentje, H. (2010). Cyperaceae. Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1-466.

Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.

Iwatsuki, K., Boufford, D.E. & Ohba, H. (eds.) (2020). Flora of Japan IVa: 1-430. Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.

Knapp, W.M. & Naczi, R.F.C. (2021). Vascular plants of Maryland, USA. A comprehensive account of the state's botanical diversity. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 113: 1-151.

Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.

Lejoy, J., Ndjele, M.-B. & Geerinck, D. (2010). Catalogue-flore des plantes vasculaires des districts de Kisangani et de la Tshopo (RD Congo). Taxonomania. Revue de Taxonomie et de Nomenclature Botaniques 30: 1-307.

Lye, K.A. & Thery, P. (2012). Flore du Gabon 44: 1-230. Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Margraf Publishers, Weikersheim; Meise Botanic Garden.

López Patiño, E.J., Szeszko, D.R., Rascala Pérez, J. & Beltrán Retis, A.S. (2012). The flora of the Tenacingo-Malinalco-Zumpahuacán protected natural area, state of Mexico, Mexico. Harvard Papers in Botany 17: 65-167.

MacKee, H.S. (1994). Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie, ed. 2: 1-164. Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris.

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Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

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Pereira-Silva, L., Larridon, I., de Oliveira Ribeiro, A.R., Santos, V.M. & Trevisan, R. (2022). Diversity and taxonomy of Cyperus (Cyperaceae) in the Central-

West region of Brazil. Annals from the Missouri Botanical Garden 107: 480-545. MBG press.

Rothrock, P.E. (2009). Sedges of Indiana and adjacent states: the non-Carex species: 1-271. Indiana Academy of Sciences.

Sheppard, C.R.C. & Seaward, M.R.D. (eds.) (1999). Ecology of the Chagos archipelago: 1-350. Westbury Academic & Scientific Publishing, Otley.

Thaman, R.R., Fosberg, F.R., Manner, H.I. & Hassall, D.C. (1994). The Flora of Nauru. Atoll Research Bulletin 392: 1-223.

Walker, E.H. (1976). Flora of Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu islands: 1-1159. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Whistler, W.A. (2022). Flora of Samoa Flowering Plants: 1-930. National Tropical Botanicl Garden. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

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de Oliveira Ribeiro, A.R. & al. (2014). Cyperaceae do rio Apodi-Mossoró, estado do Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. Hoehnea 41: 149-171.

VERNACULAR NAME

Chinese (simplified): 碎米莎草
Chinese (traditional): 碎米莎草
English: Rice flat-sedge, Grasshopper’s cyperus, Ricefield flatsedge, Rice flat sedge, Teki, Iria flatsedge
Filipino: Sud-sud, Alinang, Okokiang
Hindi: कीट Moth
Hong Kong: 碎米莎草
Indonesia: Jekeng, Teki jekeng, Teki sawah
Japanese: コゴメガヤツリ
Java: Suket teki, Jekeng kungit
Kannada: Jeku, Jeku Kasa, Jekin Hullu, Jekin Gadde
Korean: 참방동사니
Macao: 碎米莎草
Manipuri: Kangkhal sabi
Nepali: आमा - छटा आमा - चतारे आमा Mothe, Chhaataa mothe, Chatare mothe
Palauan: Badelaud
Russian: Сыть ирия
Sinhala: යනයික්කිට්ටි Yanayikkiṭṭi
Sumatera: Rumput silupak
Sunda: Babawangan
Taiwan: 碎米莎草
Tamil: யானைக்கிட்டி Yanaikkitti
Thai: โคกหัวแดง - ย่ากกสาย - เย้กกเล็ก Kok huadaeng, Yaa kok saai, Yaa kok lek

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