Common weed's scientific name was wrong for 150 years
Native Plants
If you've ever pulled up a scrubby grass-like weed near a pond or ditch and looked it up, there's a decent chance the name you found was mistaken, a mix-up researchers just untangled by digging through nearly 2,000 preserved specimens from 130 museum collections.
Scientists discovered that a common weedy sedge found on every continent has been mislabeled for two centuries because the original museum specimen used to name it turned out to be a totally different plant from South Asia. After examining thousands of preserved plant samples worldwide, they confirmed the pantropical weed's real name is Cyperus flavicomus, not the name everyone has been using. It's a reminder that even 'settled' plant names can be wrong, and that careful detective work with old museum specimens still matters.
Key Findings
The weedy sedge long called Cyperus macrostachyos had been described under at least 30 different names over 200 years with no taxonomic consensus
Examination of the original type specimen revealed it actually belongs to a different species, the South Asian endemic Cyperus puncticulatus, not the pantropical weed it was long applied to
The correct name for the widespread weed is Cyperus flavicomus Michx., confirmed through study of roughly 2,000 specimens from 130 herbaria; the study also designates lectotypes for eleven names and proposes formal name conservation to the botanical nomenclature authority
chevron_right Technical Summary
A detective story in botany: a weedy sedge found worldwide has been called by the wrong scientific name for over 150 years, after researchers traced its original type specimen and found it actually belonged to a completely different plant from South Asia.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Cyperus flavicomus (Cyperaceae), long misnamed C. macrostachyos: a comprehensive taxonomic reassessment with annotated synonymy and voucher-backed global distribution
The pantropical annual flatsedge widely known as Cyperus macrostachyos Lam. (Cyperaceae; Cyperus subg. Cyperus, former segregate genus Pycreus) has been described under no fewer than 30 names over ...
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