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Cyperus laevigatus

L. (1771)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Monocots Order: Poales Family: Cyperaceae Genus: Cyperus

ehu‘awa, makaloa, makoloa

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Perennials, rhizomes creeping, short or elongate, clothed with brown scales.

Stems: culms arranged in a single row along the rhizome, widely or closely spaced, smooth, moderately stout, trigonous, 10–45 cm tall.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. alternate Leaves reduced to bladeless sheaths, 3–30 mm long. Apex mucronate. Surfaces green, glaucous, subulate, convolute. Margins entire. Sheathing; sheaths 2–3, brown or dark brown, obliquely truncate at orifice, the uppermost sheath with a short blade. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescences anthelate, capitate with 1–12 sessile spikelets; involucral bracts 2, the longer one culmlike, erect, 3–8 cm long, much longer than the inflorescence, the shorter one spreading; spikelets 12–24–flowered, pale yellowish brown, lanceolate–oblong, slightly swollen, 7–12 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide, apex acute, rachilla tetragonal, not winged; glumes pale yellowish brown, herbaceous, closely spaced, broadly ovate, 2–2.3 mm long, occasionally with rusty brown striations, 3–4–nerved on the dorsally depressed keel, apex obtuse or mucronulate. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Corolla (petals) absent. Ovary superior; styles short; stigmas 2.

Fruit: Achenes grayish brown; obovate to ovate; dorsiventrally lenticular or convexo–concave; ca. 1.5 mm long; puncticulate; apex obtuse. Seeds 1; seed coat thin; free from pericarp; embryo basal; endosperm abundant.

Ploidy: 2n = 72; 86; 88

Habitat: Occurring on mud flats; sandy coastal sites; and on edges of and in fresh; brackish; and saltwater ponds.

Elevation Range: 0–10 m.

Historical Distribution

Images

Uses and Culture

USES

  • The leaves are used to weave very fine mats and hats, flexible bed or floor coverings, malo and pa‘u skirts (Kamehameha Schools 1994:25).

  • To treat mimi pa‘a and mimi li‘ili‘i, makaloa and ‘awa hiwa, awa mo‘i (both Piper methysticum), kī leaves (ti, Cordyline fruticosa), ‘ōolena root (Cucurma longa), and ‘alaea and palolo clays are mixed into a mash. Then niu water (coconut, Cocos nucifera) is added. The mixture is strained through ‘ahu‘awa (Cyperus javanicus), the liquid is heated and drunk while warm twice a day (Chun 1994:213-214).

Natural History

Statewide Status

Indigenous

Island Status

Mokupāpapa (Kure atoll) Indigenous
Ni'ihau(Incl. Lehua) Indigenous
Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) Only found in cultivation
O'ahu Indigenous
Molokai Indigenous
Kamole(Laysan Island) Indigenous
Maui Indigenous
Hawai'i Indigenous

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Bibliography

Name Published In: Mant. Pl. 2: 179 (1771)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:1398 (La, Ni, O, Mo, M, H); Naomi Worcester pers. comm. 2025 (Ku? recently introduced for restoration and now established, but no spms.)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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