This annual or cespitose perennial (often without distinct rhizomes) is widespread across North America except in arid regions, and in Ky. it is the most common Cyperus. C. strigosus occurs on diverse wet to damp habitats, including agricultural and urban landscapes. It appears to be a highly variable species, but segregates are not readily defined; chromosome number is high and has not been precisely counted (as in most native species of Cyperus). Other species of Cyperus that are frequent weeds in similar habitats, extending more onto uplands than other congeners, include esculentus (with tuberiferous rhizomes) and odoratus (annual); these are both highly variable pantropical species that also extend throughout moist temperate regions, about as far north as strigosus (into southern Canada). But strigosus itself is also closely related to the neotropical C. camphoratus Liebmann (FNA 23).