小星穗薹草 xiao xing sui tai cao

Carex muricata Linnaeus var. basilata (Ohwi) Y. L. Chou.

Rhizome short, oblique. Culms densely tufted, 20-40 cm tall, slender, trigonous, scabrous above, clothed at base with pale brown bladeless sheaths. Leaves shorter than culm, blades linear, 1-2 mm wide, flat. Basal involucral bracts setaceous, remaining bracts glumelike. Spicate inflorescence with upper spikes approximate, lower ones remote; terminal spike clavate, female flower part thick above, male flower part narrower below, remaining spikes mostly female; spikes 3-5, gynaecandrous, sometimes all female, ovate or oblong-ovate, stellate patent, 4-6 mm. Female glumes ferruginous or pale green, broadly ovate or subdeltoid, 1.5-2 mm wide, margins white hyaline, green 1-3-veined costa forming a mucro, apex acute. Utricles yellow-brown or pale green, longer than glume, ovate-trigonous, plano-convex, 3-3.5 mm, nerveless on both faces, rarely 1- or 2-veined abaxially, base broadly rounded, spongy, apex gradually tapering into a long beak, orifice 2-toothed, abaxially deeply cleft. Nutlets narrowly ovate; style base not thickened; stigmas 2. Fr. Jul.

Alpine meadows, wet places along streamsides; ca. 1700 m. Jilin [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East); North America].

In FRPS (12: 514. 2000), the name Carex angustior Mackenzie was misapplied to this species. True C. angustior is restricted to North America.