Cyperus niger

Black cyperus

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Black cyperus is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada Foothills, northern Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, Central Western, Southern California, Peninsular Ranges, and eastern Sierra Nevada in marshes, swamps, and moist roadsides at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from July to November, this plant produces small head-like spikes 5 to 15 millimeters wide with light brown to black flower bracts. Growing with short rhizomes and stems 1 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms dense clustered inflorescences with 2 to 3 spreading bracts. Its spikelets are linear-oblong, flat, and arranged in compact clusters with 3 to 25 individual spikelets. The fruit is a small brown, two-sided ovoid to elliptic structure approximately 1.2 to 1.4 millimeters long.

Habitat: Marshes, swamps, moist roadsides

Bloom period: Jul-Nov

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, SNF, n SNH, GV, CW, SCo, PR, SNE

California counties: Amador, San Bernardino, El Dorado, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Orange, Contra Costa, San Diego, Nevada, Butte, Fresno, Mendocino, Marin, Calaveras, Merced, Yuba, Tehama, Sutter, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, Solano, Shasta, Inyo, Kern, Tuolumne, Madera, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Placer, Santa Clara, Tulare, Plumas

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