urbpan | 365 Urban Species. #246: Yellow Nutsedge

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urbpan. Location: Olmsted Park, Brookline.

Urban species #246: Yellow nutsedge Cyperus esculentus

Sedges are a family of plants resembling grasses, but unrelated to them. They can be distinguished from grasses by their stems which are triangular in cross-section. A favorite mnemonic to tell grass stems from sedge stems is "sedges have edges." Yellow nutsedge is thought to be a native of subtropical Eurasia, but it currently has a nearly worldwide distribution. The ancient Egyptians valued the edible tuber of this plant as an important food source, but in recent centuries it seems to have fallen out of favor. Wild food enthusiasts point to the oil present in the plant as a potentially very useful but currently underutilized product. In much of North America, yellow nutsedge is viewed as a noxious weed of agricultural crops. In the city it grows in sunny areas, in soils that vary from acid to alkaline, from sandy to clay, in landscaped areas, lawns, and roadsides. Once established, the hardy rhizome makes it difficult to eradicate.