The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family contains around 5,500 described species in about 90 genera, the largest with over 2,000 species being the "true sedges" or Carex.
Distribution
Artificial floating island communities made of totora by the Uru peoples in Lake Titicaca
Species richness map of the Cyperaceae family across WGSRPD botanical countries, with the highest in South Central China (460 species). Most species prefer temperate climates.
Cyperaceae species are widely distributed with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in East Asia, although most species globally prefer temperate climates. While sedges grow in almost all environments, many thrive in wetlands or in poor soils. Ecological communities dominated by sedges are known as sedgelands or as sedge meadows.
Classification
Some species superficially resemble the closely related rushes and the more distantly related grasses. Features distinguishing members of the sedge family from grasses or rushes are stems with triangular cross-sections (with occasional exceptions, a notable example being the tule that has a round cross-section) and leaves that are spirally arranged in three ranks. In comparison, grasses have alternate leaves, forming two ranks. This difference leads to the mnemonic "sedges have edges" in order to tell them apart from generally round rushes or hollow, noded grasses.
Some well-known sedges include the water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis) and the papyrus sedge (Cyperus papyrus), from which the writing material papyrus was made. This family also includes cotton-grass (Eriophorum), spike-rush (Eleocharis), sawgrass (Cladium), nutsedge or nutgrass (also called chufa, Cyperus esculentus/Cyperus rotundus, a cultivated crop and common weed), white star sedge (Rhynchospora colorata), and umbrella sedge (Cyperus alternifolius), also known as umbrella papyrus
Features
Members of this family are characterised by the...
