Cyperus alatus

(Nees) F. Muell.

CyperaceaeRoots

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(c) Nicola van Berkel, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Nicola van Berkel

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(c) Henry de Lange, some rights reserved (CC BY)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Bulbs

The bulbs are edible.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant.

Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Somalia,

Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A sedge. It has bulbs. It grows in tufts. The short underground stem or rhizome produces several stems and leaves. The stems are 10-70 cm long and 0.4-1.7 mm thick. They are angular or triangle shaped. The leaves are 5-40 cm long and 2-7 mm wide.

References (2)

Mutie, F. M., et al, 2023, Important Medicinal and Food Taxa (Orders and Families) in Kenya, Based on Three Quantitative Approaches. Plants 2023, 12, 1145 (subsp. albus)
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

What to Eat

Where to Find It

How to Identify

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