Umbrella sedge refers to the umbrella shape of the seed head and its membership of the sedge family.
Other Names:
Drain Flat-sedge.
Summary:
A perennial sedge with short woody rhizomes, long leaves, triangular stems and globular seed heads with hundreds of spikelets.
Description:
Cotyledons:
One.
Leaves:
Pale green, erect.
Blade - 200-1000 mm long by 3-10 mm wide, flat or recurved edges, usually folded and somewhat twisted. Tiny nodules on the underside. Midrib sometimes rough to touch.
Sheath - Purple to red-brown.
Stems:
Usually tufted, single or many from the base, unbranched, 200-1000 mm long by 2.5-6 mm wide, soft, 3 angled with rounded edges, striped, stout, often slightly swollen on the lower third.
Flower head:
Simple or compound umbel with branches to 120 mm long terminating in a compact, sub globular cluster, 10-50 mm diameter, with hundreds of spikelets. 5-9 bracts of varying lengths, up to 300 mm long, underneath the flower head.
Flowers:
Spikelets - Pale, dull green to yellow or reddish, oblong, flat, 5-15 mm long by 2.5-4 mm wide. Spikelet backbone (rachilla) is not winged. Florets - Styles have 3 branches. Glumes - Green-yellow to pale brown, 2-2.5 mm long, spreading, keeled, sometimes has 2 obvious veins. Acute tip may have infolded edges, Fall away from the base of the spikelet. Palea - Lemma - Stamens - 1 Anthers - 1.5 mm long.
Fruit:
Egg shaped, nut, pale brown, 3 angled, with concave sides, on a short stalk. 1 mm long by 0.6 mm wide.
Seeds:
Roots:
Short, thick, woody, rhizomes.
Key Characters:
Biology:
Life cycle:
Perennial. Annual stem with a perennial rootstock.
Physiology:
Hardy once established.
Reproduction:
By seed and perennial rhizomes.
Flowering times:
December in SA.
Summer to autumn in NSW.
October to January and June to July in WA.
Seed Biology and Germination:
Vegetative Propagules:
Rhizomes.
Hybrids:
Ecology, Population Dynamics and Dispersal:
Origin and History:
South America.
Distribution:
ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA.
Habitats:
Climate:
Temperate.
Soil:
Damp soils.
Plant Associations:
Significance:
Beneficial:
Fodder.
Detrimental:
Serious weed of rice.
Weed of irrigated crops, gardens, lawns.
Obstructs irrigation channels and drains.
Toxicity:
Not recorded as toxic.
Legislation:
None.
Management and Control:
Thresholds:
Eradication strategies:
Herbicide resistance:
Biological Control:
Related plants:
There are 38 Cyperus species recognised as economic plants by CSIRO the most common are:
Boredrain Sedge (C. laevigatus)
Clubrush (C. hamulosus)
Dirty Dora (C. difformis)
Dense Flatsedge (C. congestus)
Downs Nutgrass (C. bifax)
Dwarf Sedge (C. pygmaeus)
Dwarf White Kyllingia (C. kyllingia)
Flat Sedge (C. sanguinolentus)
Giant Sedge (C. exaltatus)
Kyllinga weed (C. sesquiflorus, C. sphaeroideus)
Mullumbimby Couch (C. brevifolius)
Nalgoo (C. bulbosus)
Navua sedge (C. aromaticus)
Nutgrass (C. rotundus)
Rice Flatsedge (C. iria)
Scaly Sedge (C. tenuiflorus)
Slender Sedge (C. gracilis)
Sticky Sedge (C. fulvus)
Stiff-leaved Sedge (C. vaginatus)
Spiny Flatsedge (C. gymnocaulos)
Tiny Flatsedge (C. tenellus)
Umbrella grass (C. eragrostis)
Yelka (C. victoriensis)
Yellow Nutgrass (C. esculentus)
Plants of similar appearance:
Kyllinga weed (C. sesquiflorus) has a very short or no rhizome, and often 2 small spikes at the base of a larger one, which are whitish or pale green.
Kyllinga weed (C. sphaeroideus) has a yellowish seed head, usually less than 50 flowers and is an annual.
References:
Auld, B.A. and Medd R.W. (1992). Weeds. An illustrated botanical guide to the weeds of Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P22. Photo.
Black, J.M. (1965). Flora of South Australia. (Government Printer, Adelaide, South Australia). P262.
Burbidge, N.T. and Gray, M. (1970). Flora of the Australian Capital Territory. (Australian National University Press, Canberra). P78-79. Diagram.
Cunningham, G.M., Mulham, W.E., Milthorpe, P.L. and Leigh, J.H. (1992). Plants of Western New South Wales. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P169. Photo.
Hussey, B.M.J., Keighery, G.J., Cousens, R.D., Dodd, J. and Lloyd, S.G. (1997). Western Weeds. A guide to the weeds of Western Australia. (Plant Protection Society of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia). P24-25.
Lazarides, M. and Hince, B. (1993). CSIRO handbook of economic plants of Australia. (CSIRO, Melbourne). #404.1.
Marchant, N.G., Wheeler, J.R., Rye, B.L., Bennett, E.M., Lander, N.S. and Macfarlane, T.D. (1987). Flora of the Perth Region. (Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia). P879.
Acknowledgments:
Collated by HerbiGuide. Phone 08 98444064 or www.herbiguide.com.au for more information.