Cyperaceae

Introduction
Distribution and abundance
Economic and ecological importance
Characteristic morphological features
Evolution and classification

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Close-up of a Carex vesicaria sedge plant with green, spiky flower spikes and slender grass-like leaves.

Quizzes

Venus's-flytrap. Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) one of the best known of the meat-eating plants. Carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap

Plants: From Cute to Carnivorous

Related Questions

How are sedge leaves arranged differently from grass leaves?
How are sedges in the Cyperaceae family different from grasses?
How can wetland sedges help remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater?
How do Indigenous peoples of Lake Titicaca use tatora sedges?
How do barbed bristles help Rhynchospora seeds spread?
How do birds help disperse sedge seeds to new wetlands?
How do sedges contribute to wetland primary productivity?
How do sedges help stabilize sand dunes and soil?
How do the long bristles of cotton grasses help disperse seeds?
How do white or yellow bracts help attract insect pollinators to some sedges?
How have people used sedges to make mats, baskets, screens, and sandals?
How many species belong to the Cyperaceae family?
How tall can papyrus plants grow?
How was papyrus used in ancient Egypt?
What chromosome feature do sedges and rushes share?
What evidence from fossils helps scientists study the evolution of the Cyperaceae family?
What is a perigynium and how does it surround a Carex fruit?
What is the purpose of bristles on sedge flowers?
Where does Carex have its greatest diversity of species?
Where in the world are Cyperaceae plants found?
Which Cyperaceae genera grow in tropical forest understories?
Which genera are the largest in the Cyperaceae family?
Which habitats support the greatest numbers of sedges?
Which parts of Chinese water chestnut plants are eaten?
Which plants commonly dominate Northern Hemisphere peatlands?
Which sedges are pollinated by insects?
Which sedges can grow as submerged aquatic plants?
Which sedges grow in Arctic and cold-temperate regions?
Which sedges grow in temperate deciduous forest understories?
Why are New Zealand bronze sedges valued as ornamental plants?
Why are most sedges pollinated by wind?
Why are papyrus plants cultivated as ornamental pond plants?
Why are sedges especially common in wetlands?
Why are some Carex species important pasture plants in boreal and mountain regions?
Why are some Cyperus, Fimbristylis, and Schoenoplectus species weeds in rice paddies?
Why do botanists disagree about how to classify some Cyperaceae genera such as Scirpus?
Why do many sedges have triangular stems?
Why do wetland animals depend on large stands of sedges?
Why do wolf tail and Australian sedge reduce the quality of pastureland?
Why is Carex the largest genus in the sedge family?

Science Plants Flowering Plants

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External Websites

Florabase - Cyperaceae Juss.
Clare Archer - Cyperaceae
Plants of the World Online - Cyperaceae Juss.

Sedge Spikes of sedge (*Carex pendula*).

Cyperaceae

plant family

Also known as: sedge, sedge family

Written by

Anton A. Reznicek

Curator of Vascular Plants, University of Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor.

Anton A. Reznicek

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Cyperaceae, sedge family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, a division of the order Poales. The Cyperaceae are grasslike herbaceous plants found especially in wet regions throughout the world. The Cyperaceae, among the 10 largest families of flowering plants, contain about 5,000 species and, depending on the classification used, between 70 and 115 genera. The members are distributed throughout all the continents except Antarctica. Although there is a large number of species in Arctic, temperate, and tropical...

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