Though not normally grown for crops sedges do hold economic importance to agriculture. A substantial amount of sedges are noxious weeds, invading crop fields in all climates of the world.
Sedges do however have a considerable amount of ecological importance.
The stem has scattered vascular bundles and no inner pith, like other typical monocots. The roots, which are rhizomes, spread over the water, forming floating mat. These mats can sometimes break apart allowing the plant to colonize new areas in rivers and lakes. The leaves also have an epidermis with no 'long' and 'short' cell differentiation. The economic contributions of C. papyrus may not be evident to moderns, but its importance to some ancient civilizations is tremendous.