Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Poorland flatsedge
Cyperus compressus
Poorland flatsedge is recorded as native to 17 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 244 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Poorland flatsedge at a glance
- Native in
- 244 counties, across 17 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11a PLANTS minimum temperature 37°F
- Mature height
- 1 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 11a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 37°F; zone 11a winters bottom out at 40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Poorland flatsedge is recorded as native to 17 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 244 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 244 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 4 counties
- Arkansas 4 counties
- Delaware 1 county
- Florida 47 counties
- Georgia 10 counties
- Illinois 1 county
- Kentucky 1 county
- Louisiana 37 counties
- Mississippi 6 counties
- Missouri 4 counties
- New York 2 counties
- North Carolina 41 counties
- Pennsylvania 3 counties
- South Carolina 20 counties
- Texas 13 counties
- Virginia 23 counties
- Puerto Rico 27 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- 1 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Summer and Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 37°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 160
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CYCO
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Cyperus compressus (PLANTS symbol CYCO).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources