Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Fragrant flatsedge
Cyperus odoratus
Fragrant flatsedge is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,077 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Fragrant flatsedge at a glance
- Native in
- 1,077 counties, across 40 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11b PLANTS minimum temperature 42°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 11b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 42°F; zone 11b winters bottom out at 45°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Fragrant flatsedge is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,077 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,077 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 6 counties
- Arizona 10 counties
- Arkansas 25 counties
- California 15 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 53 counties
- Georgia 3 counties
- Illinois 63 counties
- Indiana 52 counties
- Iowa 18 counties
- Kansas 73 counties
- Kentucky 71 counties
- Louisiana 57 counties
- Massachusetts 10 counties
- Michigan 22 counties
- Minnesota 52 counties
- Mississippi 11 counties
- Missouri 42 counties
- Nebraska 50 counties
- New Jersey 14 counties
- New Mexico 3 counties
- New York 24 counties
- North Carolina 16 counties
- North Dakota 5 counties
- Ohio 30 counties
- Oklahoma 11 counties
- Pennsylvania 10 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 8 counties
- South Dakota 20 counties
- Tennessee 31 counties
- Texas 110 counties
- Vermont 1 county
- Virginia 51 counties
- Washington 1 county
- West Virginia 12 counties
- Wisconsin 38 counties
- Puerto Rico 52 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 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- 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
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 18 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5 to 8.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 42°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Brown
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CYOD
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 odoratus (PLANTS symbol CYOD).
- 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