Cyperaceae FAMILY

Kyllinga brevifolia

Edibility

0/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial

Growth—

The plant has spread widely throughout the warmer areas of the world and is described as a weed of cultivation and agriculture in many areas^[1]. It can become a pioneer plant in disturbed areas especially along roads^[2]. It is common to abundant in lawns, pastures, and other wet, sunny, disturbed places, and is one of the most common pasture weeds in Samoa^[1]. The plant has a distinctive "minty sweet" scent when the leaves are mown or crushed^[3].

Propagation

Seed - Division Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Kyllinga+brevifolia>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk — http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html ↩︎A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
[2]Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants — http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/rfk/index.html ↩︎An online resource giving botanical information, and a little bit about plant usage, for over 2,700 species of plants found in the Australian rainforest.
[3]Philippine Medicinal Plants — http://www.stuartxchange.org/CompleteList.html ↩︎A lovely site, giving brief details on the medicinal uses of several hundred (over 400 at the last count) plants in the Philippines, plus a picture of each plant.
[4]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.