9-689: Ficinia is a genus of tufted or rhizomatous sedges in the family Cyperaceae . There are around 70 recognised species in Africa, four species ( Ficinia ambigua , Ficinia anomala , Ficinia nodosa , and Ficinia spiralis ) that occur in New Zealand and a single species Ficinia nodosa that occurs in Australia. This Cyperaceae article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cyperaceae 94, see text The Cyperaceae ( / ˌ s aɪ p ə ˈ r eɪ s i . iː , - ˌ aɪ / ) are
18-505: A cultivated crop and common weed), white star sedge ( Rhynchospora colorata ), and umbrella sedge ( Cyperus alternifolius ), also known as umbrella papyrus Members of this family are characterised by the formation of dauciform (carrot-like) roots; an alteration in root morphology that researchers regard as analogous to cluster roots in Proteaceae , which help uptake of nutrients such as phosphorus from poor soil. Like other members of
27-666: A family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges . The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 genera – the largest being the "true sedges " (genus Carex ), with over 2,000 species. Cyperaceae species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in tropical Asia and tropical South America . While sedges grow in almost all environments, many thrive in wetlands , or in poor soils. Ecological communities dominated by sedges are known as sedgelands or as sedge meadows . Some species superficially resemble
36-627: The World Online ( POWO ) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by 2020". This was Kew's answer to the "2020 target 1" of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): "an online flora for all known plants." The initial focus
45-420: The closely related rushes and the more distantly related grasses . Features distinguishing members of the sedge family from grasses or rushes are stems with triangular cross-sections (with occasional exceptions, a notable example being the tule which has a round cross-section) and leaves that are spirally arranged in three ranks . In comparison, grasses have alternate leaves, forming two ranks. This leads to
54-491: The mnemonic "sedges have edges," in order to tell them apart from generally round rushes or hollow, nodded grasses . Some well-known sedges include the water chestnut ( Eleocharis dulcis ) and the papyrus sedge ( Cyperus papyrus ), from which the writing material papyrus was made. This family also includes cotton-grass ( Eriophorum ), spike-rush ( Eleocharis ), sawgrass ( Cladium ), nutsedge or nutgrass (also called chufa, Cyperus esculentus / Cyperus rotundus ,
63-533: The order Poales, sedges are mostly wind-pollinated , but there are exceptions. Cyperus niveus and Cyperus sphaerocephalus , both with accordingly more conspicuous flowers, are insect-pollinated. Researchers have identified sedges occurring at least as early as the Eocene epoch. As of 2024 , 93 genera are accepted by Kew 's Plants of the World Online . Plants of the World Online Plants of
72-465: The past 250 years of botanical research. It aims to make data available from projects that no longer have an online presence or were never externally available. POWO has information on taxonomy, identification, distribution, traits, threat status and use of plants worldwide. It also contains many images. As of September 2024 , POWO contained 1,433,000 global plant names, 531,800 detailed descriptions, and 400,900 images. This botany article
81-542: Was on tropical African Floras, particularly Flora Zambesiaca, Flora of West Tropical Africa and Flora of Tropical East Africa. The database uses the same taxonomical source as Kew's World Checklist of Selected Plant Families , which is the International Plant Names Index , and the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP). The database contains information of the world's flora that was gathered in
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