Cyperus flavescens

Yellow flatsedge

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Yellow flatsedge is a naturalized annual found in central Sierra Nevada foothills and Sacramento Valley in marshy, damp places at elevations of 500 to 1,000 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces small yellow-tinged flowers in open, ovoid spikes 8 to 25 millimeters wide. Growing with slender stems 5 to 30 centimeters tall, featuring 2 to 3 spreading bracts 1 to 12 centimeters long. Its spikelets are lance-oblong, flat, and 5 to 15 millimeters long with ovate flower bracts. The fruit is a small black, two-sided obovoid structure 1 to 1.2 millimeters long with a distinctive network of rectangular epidermal cells.

Habitat: Marshy, damp places

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: 500-1000 m

Bioregions: c SNF, ScV

California counties: Butte, Nevada, Yuba, Tehama

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