莽山谷精草 mang shan gu jing cao

Leaves linear, 1--2.8 cm, 1--1.3 mm wide at middle, veins 3 or 4. Scapes 10--20, ca. 3.5 cm, 3- or 4-ribbed; sheath 0.6--1.7 cm; receptacle glabrous; heads brown, turbinate to subglobose, ca. 2 × 3 mm; involucral bracts straw-colored, orbicular, ca. 2 × 1.2--1.5 mm, glabrous; floral bracts blackish, obovate to oblanceolate-spatulate, with a few hairs at margin and abaxially toward apex. Male flowers: sepals spathelike, ca. 1.5 mm, with short, 2-celled hairs at apex, basally connate, apex 3-lobed; petals 3, triangular, anterior one slightly larger than others, sometimes with a few hairs, gland black; stamens 6, usually basally connate or reduced to 5; anthers black. Female flowers: sepals spathelike, ca. 1.5 mm, basally connate, with a few short, 2-celled hairs at margin and 3-lobed apex; petals 3, free, oblanceolate, ± fleshy, abaxially villous, shortly hairy at apex, gland conspicuous, black; ovary 1(or 2)-loculed; style 1- or 2-cleft. Seeds ovoid, ca. 0.8 mm; testa reticulate, prickles T-shaped. Fl. and fr. Jul--Sep.

* Swamps, open places, damp soil; ca. 1700 m. SE Hunan (Yizhang Xian).