南疆薹草 nan jiang tai cao

Carex orbicularis Boott var. taldycola (Meinshausen) Kükenthal.

Rhizome obliquely ascending, woody. Culms 5.5-8 cm tall, ca. 2 mm thick, trigonous, scabrous above, clothed at base with castaneous sheaths disintegrating into fibers. Leaves shorter than culm, blades gray-green, linear, 2-4 mm wide, flat, margins scabrous, revolute. Involucral bracts setaceous, shorter than spike, sheathless. Spikes 2-4, approximate; terminal spike male, oblong or clavate, 5-12 mm, with peduncle ca. 1.5 mm; lateral spikes female, oblong to ovate, 5-9 × 4-5 mm, densely many flowered, subsessile. Female glumes ferruginous, ovate, ca. 2.2 × 1.5 mm, with faint midrib, upper margins white hyaline, apex obtuse. Utricles purple-brown above, light brown below, slightly longer than glume, ovate, plano-convex, 2-2.4 × ca. 1.8 mm, densely minutely papillose, faintly veined, apex with purple-brown short beak, orifice entire. Stigmas 2. Fl. and fr. Jun-Jul.

● Slopes, grasslands; 2000-2600 m. Xinjiang.