Plant Management in Florida Waters
Cuban club-rush
Quick Facts
- Scientific name: Cyperus blepharoleptos (formerly classified as Oxycarium cubense)
- Origin: South & Central America to Mexico
- Introduction:Late 1880s – Migratory birds / ship ballast
- Aquatic community: Emergent
- Habitat: Rooted in wet soils to floating mats
- Distribution: Statewide – expanding
- Management effort: Maintenance to lowest feasible level
- 2017 public waters / plant acres: 241 (52%) / 645
- 2017 Waters / acres controlled: 96 / 3410
Environmental and Economic Concerns
- Perennial, rhizomatous emergent plant
- Rooted in the substrate – frequent floating mats
- Forms dense rooted stands that can alter habitats and exclude native plants
- Fragments drift into and colonize stands of emergent plants
- overgrow and outcompete other emergent plants
- dense floating / drifting mats shade out submersed plants
- restrict water flow and motor boat traffic
- Reproduces by seeds and fragment that drift to and colonize new areas
- contribute to rapid spread and invasiveness
- fragments easily spread by boat traffic or water movement
- Expanded from a few Florida public waters in the 1980s to more than half in 2017
- Two biotypes in Florida – O. cubense forma cubense, and O. cubense forma paraguayense
- Not understood if different biotypes react differently to different herbicides and rates
