华疏花薹草 hua shu hua tai cao

Rhizome short, ligneous. Culms densely tufted, 20-55 cm tall, rather slender, triquetrous, smooth, clothed with few bladeless sheaths eventually disintegrating into fibers. Leaves shorter than culm, blades 3-6 mm wide, rather soft, smooth on both surfaces, denticulate on veins and margins; sheaths 3-4 cm, brownish. Involucral bracts leaflike, much longer than spike, sheaths 2-2.5 cm. Spikes 4 or 5, androgynous, male part shorter than female part, narrowly cylindric, (4-)5-6 cm, sparsely more than 10-flowered; lower spikes remote, peduncle slender, up to 5 cm, slightly pendent; upper spikes rather contiguous, shortly pedunculate or nearly sessile. Female glumes green at middle, pale stramineous laterally, oblong-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 3.5-4 mm, 1-costate, apex acuminate, aristate or mucronate. Utricles yellowish green, longer than glume, suberect, oblong-lanceolate, plano-convex, 6-7.5 mm, membranous, glabrous, several veined abaxially, base gradually narrowed into a slightly long stipe, apex gradually narrowed into a long beak, beak smooth on margins, rather long 2-toothed at orifice. Nutlets yellowish, tightly enveloped, oblong, compressed plano-convex, ca. 3 mm, base shortly stipitate, apex mucronate; style medium sized to long, base slightly thickened; stigmas 2. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jun.

● Wet places on mountain slopes; ca. 1900 m. C Yunnan (Kunming).