About Cyperus fuscus L.
Cyperus fuscus L. is an annual herb with thin, papery stems that grow to a maximum height of 30 centimeters. Short, flat leaves may grow around the base of the plant. Its inflorescence holds three to 15 flat, oval or rectangular spikelets, colored dark brown to deep purple. Each spikelet contains around ten flowers enclosed in dark bracts. The fruit is a light brown achene approximately one millimeter long. This species is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, ranging from England, Portugal, and Morocco eastward to China and Thailand. In China, it grows in swamps, river margins, paddy fields, and other wet locations. It has been introduced to North America, where it is naturalized in widely scattered locations across the United States and Canada. European botanists knew of its presence in North America as early as 1825. It was first collected in Essex County, Massachusetts in 1877. By 1998, it had spread to California, Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Ontario, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Virginia. After 1998, it was also discovered in Arkansas, Mississippi, Michigan, Minnesota, and Quebec. It grows in damp, disturbed soils along emergent shorelines.
