藏南薹草 zang nan tai cao

Rhizome short, covered with brown scales not disintegrated into fibers. Culms 55-80 cm tall, smooth, sometimes 1-leaved at middle. Leaves 4-6, blades linear, slightly shorter than culm, 5-7 mm wide, herbaceous; sheaths long, uppermost up to 30 cm, brownish abaxially, bearing ca. 0.5 mm ferruginous ligule at mouth. Lower 2 involucral bracts bladed and overtopping inflorescence, shortly sheathing. Spikes 4-6, ± contiguous; terminal spike gynaecandrous, 2-5 cm, male part brownish or reddish brown, 2-3.5 cm × ca. 3 mm, female part up to 1/2 as long as spike, 6-8 mm wide; lateral spikes female, at times upper 1 or 2 bearing short male part, olive-brownish, 2.5-4 cm × 5-8 mm, densely many flowered, long pedunculate. Female glumes brownish, ovate, 2-3 × 1.2-1.5 mm, membranous, 3-veined costa excurrent beyond apex into an erect awn ca. 1.5 mm. Utricles glaucous green, longer than body of glume but surpassed by awn, obovate to broadly obovate, 2.8-3 × 1.5-2 mm, herbaceous, glabrous, strongly 2-costate and bearing 4 or 5 veins reaching halfway up utricle, base cuneate-attenuate, apex rounded-contracted into a very short beak, orifice scarcely 2-toothed. Nutlets loosely enveloped, obovate, 1.5-2 × 1-1.5 mm; style ca. 1.8 mm; stigmas 3, ca. 1.5 mm.

Deciduous and coniferous forests; 2700-3100 m. S Xizang [Nepal].