Cyperus pulchellus is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to northern Australia,[2][3] tropical Africa, northwest Madagascar and Southeast Asia.

It blooms between January and July in Western Australia, producing white-brown flowers.

[2] The species was first formally described by the botanist Robert Brown in 1810 as part of the work Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum quas annis 1802-1805.

[6] In 1990 the botanist D. A. Simpson noted that it was the same plant as the one called Cyperus zanzibarensis in the rest of the world outside of Australia.

In Western Australia it is found around swamps in the Kimberley region where it grows in sandy or clay soils.