江苏薹草 jiang su tai cao

Carex conica Boott ex Perry var. densa Kükenthal.

Rhizome short. Culms tufted, 20-45 cm tall, slender, compressed trigonous, smooth, slightly scabrid above. Basal sheaths bladeless, dark brown, split into fibers. Leaves shorter than culm, blades 2-3 mm wide, flat, ± stiff, margins scabrid. Involucral bracts bristlelike, shorter than inflorescence, sheathed, sheath (3-)5-8 mm. Spikes 3 or 4, spaced; terminal spike male, oblong-elliptic or clavate, 12-25 × 3-5 mm, with peduncle 1-2 cm; lateral spikes female, oblong or narrowly cylindric, 8-15 × 2-3 mm, subdensely flowered, with peduncles enclosed in involucral bract sheath. Female glumes pale brown, diluted colored on margins, broadly ovate or obovate, 2.5-3 × ca. 1.8 mm, costa with distinct midvein excurrent into a mucro at apex, apex emarginate or ± acute. Utricles pale green, slightly shorter than glume, ovate-oblong, trigonous, 3-3.5 mm, glabrous, slenderly many veined, base attenuate into a short stipe, apex attenuate into a conic beak, orifice truncate. Nutlet tightly enveloped, oblong-ovate, trigonous, ca. 2.5 mm, base shortly stipitate, apex discoid-annulate; style base thickened; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. Apr-May.

● Forest margins on mountain slopes, waysides. Anhui, Jiangsu.