This plant is native to much of Europe, Asia, and North Africa from England, Portugal and Morocco then towards east to China and Thailand.

It is an introduced species in North America, where it is naturalized in widely scattered locations in the United States and Canada.

[2][3][4][5][6] Cyperus fuscus is a plant of wet areas, particularly disturbed places such as ditches and temporary ponds.

It is an annual herb with paper-thin stems reaching 30 centimeters in maximum height.

The inflorescence contains three to 15 spikelets, which are flat, oval or rectangular, and dark brown to deep purple.