红原薹草 hong yuan tai cao

Rhizome short, woody. Culms to 50 cm tall, trigonous, smooth, scabrous above, clothed at base with dark brown sheaths. Leaves shorter than culm, blades linear, 3-4 mm wide, flat, margins scabrous. Involucral bracts leafy, shorter than inflorescence, sheathless. Spikes 4, approximate; terminal spike male, long cylindric, 23-25 × 2-4 mm, with peduncle ca. 4 mm; lateral spikes female, cylindric, 1-2.5 × 0.5-0.6 cm, densely flowered, peduncles 1-2.7 cm. Female glumes dark brown, yellowish, or pale yellow, oblong, ca. 3.5 × 1.5 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse. Utricles yellow-green, longer than glume, elliptic, compressed trigonous, ca. 4 × 2 mm, glabrous, 7-9-veined, constricted at both ends, beak short, orifice entire. Stigmas 3.

● Ditch sides; ca. 3600 m. N Sichuan (Hongyuan).