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Multiple changes of the photosynthesis pathway are independent evolutionary events occurring in the phylogeny of flowering plants, and such changes have occurred more than five times in Cyperaceae. In the tribe Cypereae, the C4 photosynthetic pathway appeared only once and is regarded as a synapomorphy of the C4 plants within this tribe. The morphological delimitation of genera within Cypereae does not correspond to their molecular phylogenetic relationships. In this study, the molecular phylogeny was compared with the photosynthetic pathways of Korean Cypereae (18 species of Cyperus, 1 species of Kyllinga, and 1 species of Lipocarpha). The photosynthetic pathways were determined by observing the leaf anatomy. The phylogenetic analysis was performed using three DNA regions (nrITS, rbcL, and trnL-F). According to the position of the photosynthetic tissue, 4 species (C. difformis, C. flaccidus, C. haspan, and C. tenuispica) and 16 species (14 Cyperus species, K. brevifolia var. leiolepis, and L. microcephala) were confirmed as C3 and C4 plants, respectively. Tribe Cypereae was divided into the CYPE-RUS and FICINIA clades, and all species of Korean Cypereae plants belonged to the CYPERUS clade in the phylogenetic analysis. Within the CYPERUS clade, C4 plants were monophyletic but their phylogenetic relationships were unclear. The genera Kyllinga and Lipocarpha were not supported as an independent genus in either case because they were nested by the Cyperus species in the molecular phylogenetic trees in the present and in previous studies. To determine the classification within the CYPERUS clade, a detailed morphological study and a molecular phylogenetic analysis at a high resolution will be necessary.