红棕薹草 hong zong tai cao

Carex haematostoma Nees var. digyna Kükenthal; C. przewalskii var. ramosa Y. C. Yang.

Rhizome short, creeping. Culms tufted, 15-45 cm tall, erect, trigonous, clothed at base with brown sheaths eventually disintegrating into fibers. Leaves shorter than or equaling culm, blades linear, 2-3 mm wide, flat, apex long acuminate. Lowest involucral bract shortly bladed, shorter than inflorescence, sheathing, 4-10 mm. Spikes 3-7, approximate; upper 1-5 spikes male, cylindric, 7-20 mm; remaining spikes female, sometimes with male flowers at apex, oblong or ovate-elliptic, 10-20 mm, densely many flowered, with short peduncles. Female glumes red-brown, oblong-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 3.5-5 mm, margins narrowly white hyaline, apex acute. Utricles red-brown above, stramineous-yellow below, longer than glume, elliptic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, compressed trigonous, 4-6 mm, membranous, apex gradually attenuate into a beak, orifice white hyaline, emarginate. Nutlets loosely enveloped, elliptic or broadly ovate, compressed trigonous, ca. 2 mm, base with a stipe ca. 1 mm; style pubescent; stigmas 2, rarely 3. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

● Alpine meadows, subalpine thickets, grasslands; 2000-4500 m. Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan.