Volume 6 > Part 4 > Year 1998 > Page 398 > Cyperaceae > Kyllinga

3. Kyllinga polyphylla Willd. ex Kunthwfo-0000455050

En. Pl. 2. 134. (1837); Hô, Câyco Viêtnam III. 2: 700. 1993, as 'polycephala'.

Accepted Name : Cyperus aromaticus (Ridl.) Mattf. & Kük
Pflanzenr. 4(20), 101 Heft: 581. 1936; Kern, Reinwardtia 3: 62.(1954); in Fl. Males., Ser. 1, Spermat. 7: 656. 1974.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Rhizomatous perennial; rhizome horizontally creeping. Culms crowded in series along rhizome, up to 75 cm by 3 mm, triquetrous, smooth. Leaves: blade on uppermost 1–2 sheaths only, linear-lanceolate, 2–6.5 cm by 4–5 mm, acute, flat; sheaths up to 15 cm long, greenish to purplish. Involucral bracts 4–7(–8), linear, the longest up to 14 cm long. Inflorescence capitate. Spikes 4–5; terminal spike globose, 0.7 by 0.7 cm, lateral spikes smaller, in axils of involucral bracts. Spikelets elliptic, 3–3.7 by 0.8–0.9 mm, 1–2-flowered. Glumes ovate-elliptic, 2.5–3 by 2 mm, obtuse, shortly mucronate, sides membranous, indistinctly 3–5-nerved, whitish to pale greenish, keel greenish, smooth to sparsely toothed. Stamen 1; anther 1–1.2 mm long. Nutlets oblong-obovate, 1 by 0.6 mm, greyish brown.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Phuket, Songkhla (Ton Plieo).

Distribution : Tropical Africa (W Africa – type), Sri Lanka, Malesia, Pacific Islands. Native to Africa and introduced elsewhere.

Ecology : Open grassy places, 50 m alt.