Yellow Nutsedge

Description:

Native to the Mediterranean area. Cultivated in ancient Egypt for its tasty and oil-rich tubers, who knew, which are still eaten. But the wild form has spread as a weed from tropics to subarctic. Invasive problem in the U.S. for 50 years. Tomorrow, I'm going to pull one up and look at the tuber.

Habitat:

Grows well in many conditions. Huge, robust specimens can be found in grassy highway medians in the Southeast U.S. Especially if the median is lower in the middle, and the soil remains damp from collected rainwater.

Notes:

Also called chufa, nut grass, tigernut sedge, earth almond.

Check out the commercial grower's "Tiger Nuts" link ...

From the Encyclopedia of Life:

The cultivated variety of Yellow Nutsedge, Cyperus esculentus var. sativus, has several common names, including Chufa, Tiger Nut, and Rush Nut. Chufa was domesticated in the White Nile region of present-day Sudan. Chufa dates back to at least the fifth millennium BC in the Neolithic age and is thought to be the third most ancient domesticated foodstuff of ancient Egypt after Emmer Wheat (Triticum dicoccon) and Barley (Hordeum vulgare). Remains of this plant dating back to 2400 to 2200 BC have been found in Egyptian tombs. Chufa was spread across North Africa and across southern Europe in the Middle Ages. It is now cultivated around the world on a small scale, including in China, North and South America, Spain, and Australia and is especially popular in West Africa, where it is still consumed as a sweetmeat and side dish, with the "nuts" being eaten raw or roasted. It is grown in the southeastern United States as hog pasture, livestock feed, and a winter food source for Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) and waterfowl. In many countries, Chufa is often used as an ingredient in the drink known as horchata. Horchata is a popular soft drink in Spain, made from the milky extract of Chufa tubers sweetened with sugar.

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/g...