Bara-Nagar-Motha / Nut Grass
Cyperus rotundus
Also known as Purple Flat Sedge
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Bara-Nagar-Motha
Identify Bara-Nagar-Motha by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Underground chained tubers, notorious weed (nut grass).
- Confirm flower colour: Purple-brown.
- Confirm fruit type: Nut.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Cyperaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Bara-Nagar-Motha.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Cyperus rotundus
- Genus
- Cyperus
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Plains
- Habitat type
- Plains
- Distribution
- Pantropical
- Found in India
- Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Daman & Diu, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Telangana
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (LC)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Typical of the Cyperaceae family — a field-mark hint, not measured for this exact species.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Purple-brownrecorded
- Fruit type
- NutrecordedA hard-shelled, single-seeded fruit that does not split open.“The names "nut grass" and "nut sedge" – shared with the related species Cyperus esculentus – are derived from its tubers, that somewhat resemble nuts, although botanically they hav” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Spike
- Fruit
- Achene
Characters marked “recorded” are for Bara-Nagar-Motha itself; the rest are typical of the Cyperaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- बड़ा नागर मोथा Bara-nagar-motha, कोरेही झाड़ Korehi-jhar, मोथा Motha
- Nepali
- मोथे Mothe, नगर मोथे Nagar Mothe, कसुर Kasur
- Bengali
- মুথা, একধরনের বহু বর্ষজীবী ঘাস জাতীয় উদ্ভিদ
- Tamil
- korai, korai kilangu, muthakasu
- Telugu
- bhadra-tunga-muste, bhadramuste, తుంగ గడ్డి
- Kannada
- abdahullu, ಕೊಡನಾರಿ Kodanaari, ಕೊನ್ನಾರಿ Konnaari
- Malayalam
- karimuttan, kora-kizanna, muttanna
- Marathi
- बारीक मोथा Barik motha, Bimbal, नागरमोथा
About Bara-Nagar-Motha
A member of the Cyperaceae family, Nut grass (Cyperus rotundus) is a herb. In India it has been recorded in Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and 23 other states. It grows in plains. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Uses
In practice it is grown for parts that are eaten and long used in traditional medicine. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Cyperaceae
Sedge family
Bara-Nagar-Motha belongs to the Cyperaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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