四棱飘拂草 si leng piao fu cao

Fimbristylis cylindrocarpa Kunth.

Annuals or short-lived perennials. Rhizomes poorly developed. Culms densely tufted, (8-)18-50(-60) cm tall, 4-angled, smooth, with few leaf sheaths at base. Leaves bladeless; sheath margin brown membranous, mouth obliquely truncate. Involucral bracts absent. Inflorescences reduced to a single terminal spikelet, ovoid to ellipsoid, 5-10 × 3-6 mm, many flowered, apex obtuse to rounded. Glumes densely spirally imbricate, pale brownish yellow, oblong, 3.5-5 mm, membranous, many veined, middle 3 veins thicker but abaxially not forming a keel, base sometimes narrower, apex not mucronate. Stamens 3; anthers linear, 1.2-1.5 mm. Style long and compressed, sparsely ciliate, basally gradually broader and nearly as wide as nutlet; stigmas 2 or 3. Nutlet pale brown, with a ca. 0.7 mm stipe, narrowly oblong, ca. 2.5 mm, biconvex, shiny and with obvious hexagonal reticulation. Fl. and fr. Sep-Oct.

Marshes; below 100-200 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia].