Compilation
Cyperus compactus

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Name

Identification
Cyperus compactus Lam. [family CYPERACEAE ]
Related name
  • Cyperus compactus

Flora

Entry for CYPERUS compactus Lam. [family CYPERACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Capensis
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 7, page 149, (1900) Author: (By C. B. CLARKE.)
Names
CYPERUS compactus Lam. [family CYPERACEAE], Ill. i. 144, not of Retz.
CYPERUS obtusiflorus Vahl [family CYPERACEAE], Enum. ii. 308; Boeck. in Linnæa, xxxv. 528.
CYPERUS sphærocephalus Kunth var. β, leucocephalus [family CYPERACEAE], Enum. ii. 45; Krauss in Flora, 1845, 754.
Information
glabrous, stout; rhizome short, oblique, often 1/4 in. in diam., clothed by black, hard, shining sheaths, breaking up into strong fibres; stems 4–18 in. long; apex trigonous smooth; bases thickened, becoming woody, close-packed; leaves often as long as the stem, sometimes quite short, 1/12– 1/5 in. broad, rigid, tough, convolute and subcylindric upwards; bracts 3, dilated at the base, lowest up to 2–6 in. long, similar to the leaves; spikelets 5–20, in the head (in Gerrard, 459 there are 4 rays up to 2 in. long), stramineous, or dirty-white (see var. β), large; compressed, 8–18-flowered; glumes very close-packed, 1/4 in. long, boat-shaped, ovate, obtuse, conspicuously 11–17-nerved; margins often incurved in dry ripe spikelets; stamens 3; anthers linear, not crested; nut medium-sized, but scarcely 1/3 the length of the glume, triquetrous, obovoid, dull-black, reticulated by the white superficial layer of cells; style shorter than the nut; branches 3, linear, long, but not much exserted. null
Range
Distributed throughout Tropical Africa and the Mascarene Islands.
Distribution
COAST REGION Cathcart Div.; between Windvogel Mountain and Zwart Kei River, 3000–4000 ft., Drège! Var. β, Clanwilliam Div., Zeyher! Uitenhage Div.! Ecklon and Zeyher, 651! Alexandria Div.; Zuurberg Range, Drège, 2036; Bathurst Div.; between Blue Krantz and Kaffir Drift, Burchell, 3691! near Theopolis, Burchell, 4146! Albany Div.; near Grahamstown, 2000 ft., Cooper, 3334! MacOwan, 1205! Atherston, 52! Fort Beaufort Div., Cooper, 459! Drège,! Komgha Div.; Kei River, Flanagan, 996; Cathcart Div.; near Cathcart, 4500 ft., Kuntze!EASTERN REGION Tembuland; between Bashee River and Morley 1000–2000 ft., Drège, 3955; Indwe, 3500–4000 ft., Baur, 1170! Pondoland, Drège, 4388! Bachmann, 78! 79! 80; Natal; Coast-land, Sutherland! Durban Flat, Buchanan, 306! Inanda, Wood, 28! around Durban Bay, Krauss, 324! and without precise locality, Gueinzius! Gerrard, 459! Buchanan, 101! Delagoa Bay, Forbes! Junod, 395! Var. β, Transkei; between Kei River and Gekau, 1000–2000 ft., Drège. Tembuland; Bazeia, 2000 ft., Baur, 280! Pondoland, Bachmann, 85! Griqualand East; near Kokstad, 4300 ft., MacOwan and Bolus, Herb. Norm. Aust.-Afr., 1236! Natal; summit of Houtbosch Rand Mountain between Umgeni River and Mooi River, Krauss, 16! Durban Flat, Buchanan, 47! Howick, 1000 ft., Junod, 310. Klip River Div., 3500 ft., Sutherland! and without precise locality, Gerrard, 484! Buchanan, 54! 88!KALAHARI REGION Orange Free State, Buchanan, 132! Transvaal; Makapans Berg, at Streydpoort, Rehmann, 5389! Pretoria, at Wonderboom Poort, Rehmann, 4476! Maquasi Spruit, Nelson, 7*! var. β, Orange Free State, Buchanan, 131! Cooper, 918! Transvaal; Macalisberg, Burke! Pretoria, at Wonderboom Poort, Rehmann, 4477! Wit Waters Rand, Nelson, 63*! banks of the Mooi River, Zeyher, 1744! and without precise locality, MacLea in Herb. Bolus, 5816!SOUTH AFRICA without locality, Zeyher, 1749! Burke! Var. β, Menzies!
Notes
This abundant African species varies greatly in size as well as in colour; medium dimensions are given above; in Buchanan, 131, the spikelets are 1/2 in. broad, shining brown; in Krauss, 324 (and in many others), the spikelets are 3/16 in. broad and dirty-white.

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