Cyperus compressus (annual sedge, "Kugugayatsuri")

Japanese name: クグガヤツリ
Scientific name: Cyperus compressus

[Overview]
An annual 10–40 cm tall, found along roadsides and on waste ground.
The stems grow in tufts.
The leaves are linear, 0.1–0.3 cm wide, and the sheath at the base is tinged reddish brown.
At the stem tip it produces 0–5 branches bearing spikelets, and 2–3 long leaf-like bracts are attached at the base.
The inflorescence is often as long as 10 cm, but sometimes the spikelets are crowded into a head.
The axis of the spike-like florets is not developed, and the spikelets are arranged palmately.
The spikelets are yellowish and glossy, flat and linear, about 1–2.5 cm long and 0.3 cm wide.
The scales, including the projection, are broadly ovate and about 3 mm long, slightly blunt at the tip, with a thick green midrib, and the projection at the upper end curves slightly outward.
The fruit is about 0.1 cm long, broadly obovate with 3 ridges, brown and glossy.

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