Contemporary Circumscription Compared with A Utah Flora 4th ed.

Bio430

Cyperaceae

No differences.

Key Features

Perennial grass-like herbs with solid stems typically trinangular in cross section, 3-ranked leaves, the leaves sheathing with a closed sheath, and actinomorphic flowers that either lack a perianth or have the perianth reduced to 6 scales or bristles.  In Carex, the female flower is surrounded by a sack-like bract called a perigynium.  The fruit is superior, formed of 2 or three carpels, and matures into either a lenticular or triangular achene.