{{Short description|Species of plant}} {{speciesbox |name = Smooth flatsedge |image = Starr 080609-8032 Cyperus laevigatus.jpg |status = LC |status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |author=Gupta, A.K. |author2=Juffe Bignoli, D. |author3=Lansdown, R.V. |year=2018 |title=''Cyperus laevigatus'' |article-number=e.T164060A65923957 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T164060A65923957.en |access-date=25 November 2022}}</ref> |genus = Cyperus |species = laevigatus |authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]] |}} [[File:Starr 050128-3310 Cyperus laevigatus.jpg|thumb|''Cyperus laevigatus'']] '''''Cyperus laevigatus''''' is a species of [[Cyperus|sedge]] known by the common name '''smooth flatsedge'''.
==Distribution== ''Cyperus laevigatus'' is grows in wet areas, especially in [[brackish water]], wet [[alkali soils|alkaline soils]], mineral-rich [[hot spring]]s, and other moist [[saline soil|saline]] and alkaline habitat. It is widespread across tropical and subtropical regions of the [[Americas]], [[Africa]], the [[Mediterranean Basin]], the [[Middle East]], [[India]], [[Central Asia]], [[Australia]] and various oceanic islands.<ref>[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=237182 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]</ref><ref>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101122 Flora of North America]</ref><ref>Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2005). Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 52: 1-415.</ref><ref>Govaerts, R. & Simpson, D.A. (2007). World Checklist of Cyperaceae. Sedges: 1-765. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.</ref><ref>Dobignard, D. & Chatelain, C. (2010). Index synonymique de la flore d'Afrique du nord 1: 1-455. Éditions des conservatoire et jardin botaniques, Genève.</ref><ref>Hoenselaar, K., Verdcourt, B. & Beentje, H. (2010). Cyperaceae. Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1-466.</ref><ref>Lambdon, P. (2012). Flowering plants & ferns of St Helena: 1-624. Pisces publications for St Helena nature conservation group.</ref>
==Description== ''Cyperus laevigatus''is a perennial sedge growing up to 60 centimeters tall, sometimes in clumps interconnected on a horizontal [[rhizome]]. The [[inflorescence]] is a small array of cylindrical spikelets with one to three leaflike [[bract]]s at the base. The spikelets vary in color from green to reddish to dark brown.
==History== In Hawaiʻi, ''Cyperus laevigatus'' is known as ''makaloa'' and was used by the people of Ni'ihau to make beautiful plaited mats. Many of the finest examples of plaiting in Hawaiʻi are made from ''makaloa''.<ref>[http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/resultsdetailed.asp?search=makaloa Hawaiian Ethnobotany] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702123416/http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/resultsdetailed.asp?search=makaloa |date=2007-07-02 }}</ref>
==Ecology== The caterpillars of the tiny moth ''[[Chedra microstigma]]'' have been found to [[leaf miner|mine]] within the leaves of this [[Larval food plants of Lepidoptera|host plant]] in coastal marsh in [[Oahu]].<ref name=Busck1914>{{cite journal|last=Busck |first=August |author-link=August Busck |title=New Microlepidoptera from Hawaii |journal=Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus |date=1914 |volume=2 |issue=7 |page=106 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9141297}}</ref><ref name=Zimmerman1978>{{cite book |last=Zimmerman |first=Elwood C. |author-link=Elwood Zimmerman |date=1978 |title=Insects of Hawaii |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/7338/3/IOH-V09%20Microlepidoptera%203of4.pdf |volume='''9''' Microlepidoptera |location=Honolulu |publisher=The University Press of Hawaii |pages=1003–1015}}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of Cyperus species]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Cyperus laevigatus}} *[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?7928,8084,8093 Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Cyperus laevigatus''] *[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CYLA2 USDA Plants Profile: ''Cyperus laevigatus''] *[http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Cyperus~laevigatus ''Cyperus laevigatus'' - U.C. Photo gallery]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2713001}}
[[Category:Cyperus|laevigatus]] [[Category:Brackish water plants]] [[Category:Salt marsh plants]] [[Category:Flora of Northern America]] [[Category:Flora of Hawaii]] [[Category:Flora of the Caribbean]] [[Category:Flora of Asia]] [[Category:Flora of Australia]] [[Category:Flora of Madagascar]] [[Category:Flora of Central America]] [[Category:Flora of Southern America]] [[Category:Plants described in 1767]] [[Category:Grasses of Lebanon]]
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