Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Redroot flatsedge
Cyperus erythrorhizos
Redroot flatsedge is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 779 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Redroot flatsedge at a glance
- Native in
- 779 counties, across 42 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11a PLANTS minimum temperature 37°F
- Mature height
- 2.5 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.
Redroot flatsedge is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 779 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 779 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 7 counties
- Arizona 5 counties
- Arkansas 32 counties
- California 39 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 14 counties
- Georgia 6 counties
- Illinois 59 counties
- Indiana 30 counties
- Iowa 10 counties
- Kansas 17 counties
- Kentucky 41 counties
- Louisiana 58 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Massachusetts 10 counties
- Michigan 16 counties
- Minnesota 33 counties
- Mississippi 21 counties
- Missouri 47 counties
- Nebraska 32 counties
- Nevada 1 county
- New Jersey 14 counties
- New Mexico 2 counties
- New York 16 counties
- North Carolina 16 counties
- North Dakota 6 counties
- Ohio 18 counties
- Oklahoma 2 counties
- Oregon 15 counties
- Pennsylvania 13 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 15 counties
- South Dakota 16 counties
- Tennessee 24 counties
- Texas 51 counties
- Utah 6 counties
- Virginia 31 counties
- Washington 12 counties
- West Virginia 6 counties
- Wisconsin 32 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
- 2.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- 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
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 14 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
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 37°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Dark Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Contracting Only
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CYER2
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 erythrorhizos (PLANTS symbol CYER2).
- 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