Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures ( Grasses,Ornamental & Others), 1 by htop

htop wrote:
Yellow Nutsedge, Weedy Yellow Nutsedge, Earth Nut, Weedy Nutsedge, Weedy Nutgrass (Cyperus esculentus var. esculentus), naturalized and Texas native, perennial, blooms late spring to early fall, listed as a noxious weed in several states, but not Texas

I am listing this plant here even though it is a sedge instead of a grass because it is a grass-like plant and a lot of people would assune it is a grass.

The chufa eaten by people are not the kind of nutsedge (weedy) I am describing here. That type is Cyperus esculentus var. sativus (cultivated nutsedge) and is also known as tiger nuts and earth-almonds. Herein, is where some of the confusion lies about this plant.

This cultivated aanual yellow nutsedge does not have the over-wintering capability of the perennial yellow nutsedge and is grown as an annual plant. It does not produce the huge number of seeds that is typical of the perennial nutsedge. In Massachusetts, it was reported that weedy nutsedge produced 605 MILLION seeds per hectare which is equal to 10,000 square meters or a little more than 2.47 acres (1). A single nutsedge tuber is able to propagate close to 1900 plants and 7000 tubers annually (2). The weedy nutsedge tubers are a grayish brown color; whereas, the cultivated Chufa tubers are grayish orange color. The cultivated variety's tuber is much larger than the weedy variety's tuber.

If I could add a 1000 more negatives to this plant in the PlantFiles, I would. Once you do not fight it constantly, it will gradually kill almost all of the low growing plants by not permitting them to receive any light. I am not sure if they also effect the growth of the other plants by robbing the soilof nutrients and/or production of allelochemicals.which has been suggested by some research studies. I do know that I have had difficulty growing certain plants as transplants and with seed germination in the areas where the nutsedge has been prolifically growing for years. It does not seem to effect larkspur, moss rose, purselane, Texas bluebonnets nor lantana. But, all of the roses as well as many types of bulbs and other plants are unable to grow in these areas (but to be fair, I can't blame on the nutsedge - it might just be a coincidence.)

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/105965/index.html

Young weedy nutsedge, weedy nutgrass (Cyperus esculentus var. esculentus) growing in the crack between my sidewalk and street curb and an adjacent small flowerbed to the right where I have attempted to remove them for years and years ...

This message was edited Aug 4, 2005 6:28 AM