岷县薹草 min xian tai cao

Rhizome short, stoloniferous, slender, woody. Culms tufted, 40-60 cm tall, ca. 1 mm thick, trigonous, glabrous, scabrous above, clothed at base with dark purple sheaths disintegrating into fibers. Leaves shorter than culm, blades linear, ca. 2 mm wide, flat, margins scabrous. Involucral bracts leaflike, shorter than inflorescence, sheathless. Spikes 3-5; terminal spike male, linear or narrowly cylindric, 20-23 × 2-4 mm, pallid; remaining spikes female, only upper one androgynous, linear-cylindric, 20-25 × 2.5-3 mm, sessile, lower spikes with peduncles. Female glumes blackish brown, ovate-oblong or elliptic, ca. 2.5 mm, with light midrib, apex obtuse or acute. Utricles shorter than or equaling glume, elliptic, plano-convex, 2-2.5 mm, faintly veined, apex gradually attenuate into a beak, orifice entire or shortly 2-toothed. Nutlets ovate, ca. 2 mm, base shortly stipitate; stigmas 2. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

● S Gansu (Minxian).