Cyperus dives Delile

Perennial herb, robust, ± tufted, up to 1.82 m high. Leaf blades 12-25 mm wide, flat to W-shaped, serrated on margins and major ribs. Culm scapose, 3-angled, 6-12 mm in diam. Inflorescence a large, dense, compound anthela, 150-300 mm in diam., of very many spikelets. Subtending bracts 4-8, leaf-like. Spikelets spreading at 90°, compressed, linear-lanceolate, 7-10 x 1.5-2.0 mm, 10-20-flowered. Glumes closely imbricate, boat-shaped, 2.2 mm long, keel excurrent into short awn. Flowering time Nov.-Mar. Nutlet elliptical, 1 mm long, 3-angled, brown, surface ± smooth.

Swamps and marshes, on river banks and on the margins of lakes often forming extensive stands; at elevations from around sea level to 2,450 metres.

Can be grown by seedlings.