3. Pycreus flavidus (Retzius) T. Koyama, J. Jap. Bot. 51: 316. 1976.
球穗扁莎 qiu sui bian suo
Perennials. Roots fibrous. Rhizomes short. Culms tufted, 2-50 cm tall, obtusely 3-angled, smooth, with a few leaves basally. Leaves shorter or longer than culm; sheath reddish brown at basal part, long; leaf blade 1-2 mm wide, folded or flat. Involucral bracts 2-4, longer than inflorescence, slender. Inflorescence a simple anthela; rays 1-6, mostly to 6 cm, unequal in length, sometimes very short, each with many to rarely few spikelets. Spikelets congested at apex of rays, linear-oblong to linear, 0.3-1.8 cm × 1-3 mm, strongly compressed, radially spreading and forming a globose spike, 6-34(-66)-flowered; rachilla straight, 4-angled, with trabeculae in both lateral sulculi. Glumes yellowish brown, reddish brown, dark purplish red, dark grayish brown, or purplish brown on both surfaces, lax or dense, oblong-ovate, 1.5-2 mm, 3-veined, keel abaxially green, margin narrowly white hyaline, apex obtuse. Stamens 2; anthers oblong, ca. 0.5 mm. Style of medium length; stigmas 2, slender. Nutlet brown to dark grayish brown, obovoid, 0.8-1.2 mm, ca. 1/3 as long as subtending glume, slightly compressed, biconvex, prominently puncticulate, apex mucronate. Fl. and fr. Jun-Nov.
Swamps, shallow water, river margins, shady wet places, meadows, water margins, ditch margins, paddy field margins; below 100-3400 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, SE Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam; Africa, SW Asia, Australia, S Europe, Indian Ocean islands, Madagascar].
