MSU ExtensionIntegrated Pest Management

Cyperus esculentusL.

Life cycle

Rhizomatous perennial sedge.

Patch of yellow nutsedge.

Leaves

Yellowish green, shiny, grass-like leaves are long and narrow and distinctly ridged along the midvein, and they narrow to a long, sharp point. Leaves are mostly basal and alternate, and they point outward from the stem in three directions.

黄色nutsedgeseedling.

Stems

Erect, solid, up to 3-foot-tall stems are triangular in cross-section. Plants spread by wiry, scaly rhizomes and nutlike tubers produced at the rhizome tips.

Triangular stem of yellow nutsedge.

Flowers and fruit

The seedhead consists of numerous yellowish brown spikelets, which occur in a terminal, umbrella-like cluster. Under each seedhead is a whorl of several long, leaf-like bracts. The seed is enclosed in a single-seeded, three-angled, yellowish brown fruit with a blunt end.

黄色nutsedgeseedhead.

Reproduction

Tubers, rhizomes and, very rarely, seeds.

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