This diminutive annual is widely scattered from South America to North America, in tropical and temperate regions. It usually occurs on mudflats, sand- or gravel-bars and other extensive shorelines that are exposed in summer to fall but remain somewhat damp. In Ky. it is known only from sloughs or dammed sections of the larger rivers, or sometimes in nearby fields. ["Florets" in Lipocarpha are highly reduced spikelets as in Kyllinga (FNA 23), which occurs on similar but more well-drained habitats in Ky.].