Cyperus haspan L. APNI* 
Description: Slender, tufted perennial with short rhizome but sometimes apparently annual with fibrous roots only. Culms triquetrous to almost 3-winged, smooth, 10–80 cm high, 1–3 mm diam.
Leaves slightly septate–nodulose, reduced to sheath or with blade usually shorter than culms, 2–5 mm wide.
Inflorescence compound with 5–20 primary branches to 15 cm long; digitate clusters to 20 mm diam.; involucral bracts leaf-like, 1 slightly longer or 2 or 3 shorter than the inflorescence. Spikelets flattened, 3–10 per cluster, 5–10 mm long, 1–2 mm wide in side view, 10–35-flowered; rachilla not winged, persistent. Glumes obtuse, with 3-nerved midrib, 1–1.8 mm long, red-brown, occasionally paler. Stamens 1–3. Style 3-fid.
Nut trigonous, broad-obovoid, less than half as long as glume, 0.4–0.8 mm long, c. 0.4 mm diam., whitish to pale yellow-brown.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows on margins of swamps and creeks; in coastal areas north from Sydney region and in Pilliga Scrub.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, NWP
Other Australian states: Qld N.T. W.A.
Text by K. L. Wilson (1993)
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the subspecies | |
| 1 | Stamen 1; rhizome short and culms rather clustered; culms to 40 cm high; leaf blades usually well-developed; glumes densely overlapping so that rachilla is not visible; nut 0.4–0.5 mm long | subsp. haspan |
| Stamens 3 or occasionally 2; rhizome creeping so that culms are solitary; culms to 100 cm high; leaves mostly reduced to sheaths; glumes less densely overlapping so that rachilla is visible between them; nut 0.5–0.8 mm long | subsp. juncoides |
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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