Occurrence (Special Areas) :
Gujarat Forestry Research Foundation, Indroda Park, Ayurvedic Udyan, Punit Van, Sarita Udyan, Van Chetana Kendra, Basan, Aranya Van
About Cyperus rotundus Plant :
Habit : A small herb, stolons elongate, slender, bearing hard, ovoid truncate black, fragrant tubers, roots fibrous.
Stem : Sub-solitary, trigonous at the top.
Leaves : Shorter or longer than stem with parallel venation, narrowly linear, finely acuminate, flat, 1-nerved.
Inflorescence : Simple or compound umbels, rays 2-8, the longest reaching 3 inches long, bearing short spikes of 3-10 slender, spreading, red-brown spikelets.
Flowers :
Bracts 3, variable in length, the longest reaching 6 inches long, sometimes very short.
Spikelets variable in length, linear, subacute, red-brown, 10-50 flowered, compressed, rachis with hyaline wings.
Glumes oblong, obtuse, pointed, back reddish-brown, 3-7 nerved, sides, margins and tip hyaline. Stamens 3. Ovary compressed, style short, stigma 2, elongate, much-exserted.
Fruits : Nuts, obovoidtrigonous.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : August-October
Significance :
The tubers are used for giving scent and aroma to hair-oil and clothes.
As the tubers are aromatic, they are employed in medicine, perfumery and the preparation of incense sticks.
The tubers are said to be diaphoretic and astringent and are also used in native medicines for intestinal diseases and irritation of the bowels.
