Gen info
• Cyperus is a large genus of about 700 species, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions. They are annual or perennial plants, mostly aquatic and growing in still or slow moving water up to 0.5 meters (20 in) deep. (2)

Botany
• Mañgilang is a perennial sedge with short rhizomes. Stems are glabrous, 25 to 70 centimeters long. Leaves are often nearly as long as the stems, 3 to 5 millimeters broad. Umbels are simple, 2.5 to 12 centimeters in diameter. Rays are 5 to 12, 2.5 to 8 centimeters long, ultimately straight. Spikes are solitary, cylindric, about 2.5 centimeters long. Spikelets are linear-lanceolate, bearing 1 to 2 nuts which are trigonous and chestnut-colored.

• Perennials. Rhizomes short, hardened. Culms laxly tufted, 10-60 cm tall, acutely triquetrous, smooth, base swollen and with more leaves. Leaves shorter than to equaling culm; sheath brown to reddish brown; leaf blade 3-6(-8) mm wide, folded at basal part but apically gradually flattened, margin not scabrous. Involucral bracts 5-8, obliquely spreading, leaflike, longer than inflorescence. Inflorescence a simple or subcompound anthela; rays several, 6-12 or sometimes more, short or 6-14 cm, unequal in length, each with 1-5 spikes. Spikes cylindric, 1-2.5[-5] cm × 5-10 mm or sometimes narrower, with many dense spikelets. Spikelets narrowly linear-ovoid, 3-7 × ca. 0.7 mm or sometimes shorter, spreading to reflexed, each (1 or)2- or 3-flowered; rachilla wings white, lanceolate, broad, hyaline. Glumes yellow, yellowish green, or greenish, oblong, ca. 3 mm, veins several with middle 3 green and conspicuous, margin involute, apex obtuse and not mucronate. Stamens 3; anthers broadly linear, 0.8-1 mm; connective prominent beyond anthers. Style short; stigmas 3, slender. Nutlet straw-colored at first but dark brown when mature, narrowly oblong, 1.8-2.2 × ca. 0.5 mm, ca. 2/3 as long as subtending glume, 3-sided, minutely punctate. (Flora of China)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- In old clearings, open grasslands, etc., at low and medium altitudes from northern Luzon to Palawan and Mindanao, in most or all islands and provinces.
- Widespread from Africa to Asia, Malesia, and Australia.

Constituents
- Cyprerus cyperoides has yielded tricin and luteolin as well as cyperaquinones.

Properties
- Anthelmintic, which may be due to cyperaquinines (quinones such as plumbagin).

Parts used
Leaves, roots, seeds.

Uses
Edibility
- In China, roots and seeds made into flour.
- Rhizomes are roasted. Used as famine food.
Folkloric
- The Ayta people of Porac, Pampanga burn dried leaves and roots burned as repellent against hematophagous insects.
- In Indonesia, used to expel worms from the intestine.
- In Africa, one of 13 of 54 species of plants, that demonstrated efficacy in hospitalized patients for treatment of Buruli ulcer, the third most common mycobacterial infection in the world, after tuberculosis and leprosy. (see study below) (8)
- Juice of roots used for treatment of coughs and fevers. Ground rhizomes topically applied to skin disorders. Ash of plant topically applied on cuts and wounds. Infusion of nutlets used for treatment of toothache. (8)
Others
- Fodder: Sometimes used as fodder.
- Occult: Some occult ritual uses in Papua, New Guinea.
- Ceremonial: In Kenya, C. cyperoides used to bless cows.
- Agroforestry: Occasionally sown to stabilize soil, colonize disturbed ground.

Studies
• Anti-Buruli Ulcer: Buruli ulcer (BU) is the third most common mycobacterial infection in the world, after TB and leprosy. In a systematic review on ethnobotanical use and anti-BU activity of plants, 98 species were identified having anti-BU use. Ethnopharmacological knowledge was validated in vitro for only 13 species. Of those, seven species including Cyperus cyperoides demonstrated efficacy in hospitalized BU patients. Four isolated and characterized compounds showed moderate bioactivity in vitro against M. ulcerans. (6)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Famine foods / Cyperaceae / Robert Freedman
(2)
Cyperus / Wikpedia
(3)
Medicinal Plants of China, Korea, and Japan: Bioresources for Tomorrow's / Christophe Wiart / Google Books
(4)
Cyperus cyperoides (L.) O. Kuntze / Article Source: Nguyen Khac Khoi, 1999. Cyperus cyperoides (L.) O. KuntzeIn: de Padua, L.S., Bunyapraphatsara, N. and Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors). Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. Backhuys Publisher, Leiden, The Netherlands, p. 226 / Proseanet.org
(5)
Cyperus cyperoides / Synonyms / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(6)
Ethnopharmacological reports on anti-Buruli ulcer medicinal plants in three West African countries / Patrick Valere Tsouh Fokou, Alexander Kwadwo Nyarko, Regina Appiah-Opong, Lauve Rachel Tchokouaha Yamthe b,e, Phyllis Addo a, Isaac K Asante, Fabrice Fekam Boyom / Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2015; 172: pp 297-311
(7)
A survey of plants used as repellents against hematophagous insects by the Ayta people of Porac, Pampanga province, Philippines / Jasper John A. Obico* and Elena M. Ragragio / Philippine Science Letters, Vol 7, No 1 (2014)
(8)
Cyperus cyperoides / Ken Fern: Topical Plants Database / Useful Tropical Plants
(9)
Pacific island flatsedge / PictureThis

DOI: It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page. (Citing and Using a (DOI) Digital Object Identifier)