柄果薹草 bing guo tai cao

Carex brunnea Thunberg var. stipitinux (C. B. Clarke ex Franchet) Kükenthal.

Rhizome short, ligneous, without stolons. Culms tufted, slightly slender, 60-100 cm tall, triquetrous, smooth, clothed with dark brown and bladeless sheaths at base, most up to 15 cm. Leaves shorter than or nearly equaling culm, blades 4-5 mm wide, ± stiff, scabrous on midrib of abaxial surface and margins, long sheathed; sheaths most up to 11 cm, membranous part of sheaths eventually disintegrating into reticulate fibers. Involucral bracts sheathed, lowest involucral bract blade leaflike, upper blades needle-shaped or setaceous, shorter than inflorescence, scabrous near apex. Spike numerous, 1-3 in an involucral bract sheath, usually 2 or 3 racemes composed of several spikes borne in lower involucral bract sheaths, terminal spike male, remaining spikes androgynous, male part much shorter than female part, densely many flowered, linear-cylindric, 10-28 mm, thinly pedunculate. Female glumes yellowish brown, broadly ovate, ca. 2.5 mm, membranous, green 1-costate, white hyaline on apex, apex obtuse or acute, muticous. Utricles green-yellow, suberect, longer than glume, elliptic, plano-convex, ca. 3 mm, white hispidulous on upper part, thinly 9-11-veined, base abruptly contracted into a short stipe, apex abruptly contracted into a short beak less than 1 mm, orifice slightly splitting into 2 teeth. Nutlets brown, tightly enveloped, elliptic, compressed biconvex, ca. 2 mm, base estipitate; style base slightly thickened; stigmas 2. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

● Lax or dense forests or thickets on mountain slopes or valleys, shady places at roadsides; 200-1500 m. Anhui, Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang.