Fragrant Flat Sedge

Cyperus odoratus

USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 28 March 2018). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
Illustration courtesy of University of Florida/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. Used with permission.

What is Fragrant Flat Sedge?

Physical Characteristics

Flowers:

• 0.39-17.72 inches long
• Many flowered
• Unequally spreading
• 3-10 bracts
• Spikelets vary in size

Fruit:

• Dry
• Does not open to release fruit when ripe
• Brown in color
• Unequally 3-angled

Stem:

• Rarely has rhizomes
• Hollow stems
• Up to 3 feet long
• 0.05-0.23 inches thick near base
• 0.02-0.13 inches thick just beneath the flower

Where Does it Grow?

Fragrant flat sedge can be found in the mud of swamps, ditches and streams, and along the edges of lakes and creeks.

Pros and Cons Fragrant Flat Sedge

Submerged portions of all aquatic plants provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates. These invertebrates in turn are used as food by fish and other wildlife species (e.g. amphibians, reptiles, ducks, etc.). After aquatic plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food (called “detritus”) for many aquatic invertebrates.