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.

Distribution
- 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.
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)
Others
- Fodder: Sometimes used as fodder.
- Occult: Some occult ritual uses in Papua, New Guinea.
- Ceremonial: In Kenya, C. cyperoides used to bless cows.

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)
Mariscus sumatrensis (Retz.) J. Raynal / Chinese name and synonyms / Catalogue of Life, China
(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 / The Plant List
(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)

                                                                          DOI
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