大坪子薹草 da ping zi tai cao

Carex lamprosandra Franchet; C. tapinzensis var. lamprosandra (Franchet) Kükenthal.

Rhizome long, ligneous, obliquely ascending. Culms densely tufted, 15-70 cm tall, ca. 1 mm thick, slender and stiff, triquetrous, scabrous on angles. Leaves shorter than culm, flat, blades 2-4 mm wide, stiff, slightly scabrous, dark brown sheathed at base, sheaths eventually disintegrating into fibers. Involucral bracts spathelike, involucral bract sheath green, white and membranous at sheath mouth, lowermost involucral bract blade leaflike, rather long, but shorter than inflorescence, other setaceous. Spikes 3-5; terminal spike male, usually taller than adjacent female spike, cylindric, 2-3 cm, densely many flowered; lateral spikes 2-4, female, uppermost one approximate to male spike, others remote, cylindric, 2-4 cm, rather densely many flowered, sometimes with few male flowers at apex; peduncles slender, slightly stiff, long exserted from involucral bract sheath, upper ones gradually shortened. Female glumes greenish or yellowish green laterally, dark green at middle, oblong or obovate-oblong, 4-4.5 mm, papery, 3-veined, scabrous on costa and short awn, margins broadly white hyaline, apex acuminate, acute, subrounded, or truncate. Utricles greenish, nearly equaling glume, oblong or obovate-oblong, obtusely trigonous, 4-4.5 mm, papery, densely pubescent, 2-veined laterally and thinly several veined, base attenuate into a long stipe, apex abruptly contracted into a recurved and short beak, orifice obliquely truncate. Nutlets brown at maturity, obovate-oblong, trigonous, 2.5-3 mm, base attenuate into a short stipe, apex with a recurved and short beak; style short, base thickened; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. May-Aug.

● Picea or Pinus forests, subalpine thickets; 1800-3800 m. SW and W Sichuan, E Xizang, NW Yunnan.