Cyperus acuminatus

Short pointed cyperus

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: annual · Native

Short pointed cyperus is a California native annual found in the Klamath Ranges, Great Valley, and Western Transverse Ranges in edges of temporary pools, ponds, and streams at elevations below 400 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces small spheric heads of flat, ovate spikelets 5 to 18 millimeters wide with lance-ovate flower bracts. Growing with slender stems 5 to 40 centimeters tall and 0.4 to 1 millimeter thick, it forms delicate clustered inflorescences. Its flower bracts are distinctively 3-veined with tips that curve outward, creating a subtle textural complexity. The fruit is a small light brown, obovoid-ellipsoid structure approximately 0.7 to 1.1 millimeters long, with an acute, beaked tip.

Habitat: Edges of temporary pools, ponds, streams

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: < 400 m

Bioregions: KR, GV, WTR

California counties: Ventura, Colusa, Riverside, Siskiyou, Tulare, Shasta, Glenn, Mendocino, Calaveras, Fresno, San Mateo, Sonoma, Lake, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Butte, Tehama, Madera, Stanislaus, Humboldt, Santa Barbara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.