Cyperus articulatus

What to Eat

Edible parts: Tubers, Root, Rhizomes

Rhizomes - peeled and eaten raw. Essential oils obtained from the roots are used as a flavouring in the food industry. We have no specific information for this species, but it is said that the inner base of the young stems of all species in this genus can be eaten raw, and make an excellent survival food in times of need.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in shallow water. It grows in damp soils along river banks. It is damaged by frost or drought. It can grow in slightly salty soils. It grows between 2-1,700 m above sea level. It grows in wet grass savannah. It can grow in arid places.

Africa, Asia, Australia, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Central Africa, Central America, Chad, Congo DR, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Ecuador, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guiana, Guianas, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, North America, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Venezuela, West Africa, West Indies, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

How to Identify

A herb. It is an almost leafless sedge. It keeps growing from year to year and is erect. The stems are 1.2 m tall and pithy. The stems are about 1 cm thick. They are cylinder shaped and pale yellow. The flowering stalk has fine drooping branches. It has black tubers. They have a lavender smell.

How to Grow

Grows naturally from the warm temperate zone through to the tropics. Probably requires a moist to wet soil. A tropical plant. It grows in shallow water. It grows in damp soils along river banks. It is damaged by frost or drought. Freshwater but it can grow in slightly salty soils. It grows between 2-1,700 m above sea level. It grows in wet grass savannah. It can grow in arid places.

Propagation: Seed or division.

Medicinal Uses

Piripiri has a long history in South American herbal medicine, particularly valued for its effects on the digestive system, commonly treating nausea, vomiting, stomach aches, and intestinal gas. The plant is anthelmintic, antibacterial, antiemetic, antifungal, carminative, contraceptive, digestive, febrifuge, and sedative. Research interest has grown around its potential for treating epilepsy and convulsions; studies from Africa suggest the plant can mediate brain chemical reactions involved in epilepsy and that the rhizome has anti-epileptic and anti-convulsant actions, as well as sedative properties. Fresh rhizomes are ground to extract the juice, which is used as a nerve tonic for stress and nervous and mental disorders including epilepsy. It is also used to treat and prevent digestive and gastrointestinal disorders, fevers and flu, to facilitate childbirth or induce abortion, as a contraceptive, and for throat cancer. Externally it is applied to heal wounds and treat snakebite, and placed on the head as a hair tonic and to treat or prevent baldness. A leaf infusion treats headaches, colds and flu, mouth sores and ulcers, and hypertension. A decoction of the whole plant is used to relieve nausea and vomiting caused by malaria.

Other Uses

The tall green stems are fibrous, round, hollow, and up to 18mm wide at the base; they have been used like reeds in basket-making and woven into mats. The fragrant, sweet-scented tuberous roots are used for perfuming clothing. The plant helps prevent erosion when growing along stream banks. Cattle will pasture on the plant when other forage is unavailable.

Cyperus articulatus is an aromatic species of sedge known by the common names jointed flatsedge and priprioca. It has also been known as Guinea rush or adrue. It grows as a perennial herb. It grows in water or near it in rivers, streams, lakes, and swamps with a hyperhydrate (emergent aquatic) or possibly tenagophyte (submerged juvenile and terrestrial adult) growth pattern. It is widespread across tropical and subtropical regions in Africa, southern Asia, northern Australia, the southeastern United States, the West Indies, and Latin America. While it is closely related to highly invasive sedges such as purple nut sedge (Cyperus rotundus), priprioca is less prolific and competitive than its relative.

Notes

There are 550 Cyperus species. It has many uses in perfume and medicine.

More from Cyperaceae

Actinoscirpus grossus

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Actinoscirpus grossus var. kysoor

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