Rice flat-sedge (Cyperus iria)

Rumput alang-alang sawah or 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.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Subfamily: Cyperoideae
Tribe: Cypereae
Genus: Cyperus
Species: Cyperus iria

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