Scirpus australis L., Syst. Veget., ed. 13 by J.A. Murray: 85. 1774. Scirpus holoschoenus L. subsp. australis (L.) Arcang., Comp. Fl. Ital.: 732. 1882; S. holoschoenus L. var. australis (L.) Sm., Fl. Brit.: 53. 1800. Holoschoenus australis (L.) Reichenb., Fl. Germ. Excurs.: 76. 1830; H. vulgaris Link var. australis Nyman, Consp. Fl. Eur.: 765. 1882; H. romanus (L.) Fritsch var. australis (L.) Becherer, Candollea 4: 142. 1929; Madalski, Fl. Polon. Terr. Adiac. Iconogr. 3,1: 256. 1979. Rateeb & Sherif in Jafri & Gadi (eds.), Fl. Libya 120: fig. 13. 1985.

Perennial, 25-90 cm. Stem 0.8-3.5 mm diam. Leaves from c. 1/2 to c. as long as stem; sheaths 3-10 cm. Inflorescence of 1 to c. 30 heads of spikes; bracts 1-3 leaf-like, lowest 2-20 cm, mostly erect, other shorter, patent or reflexed; primary branches up to 40 mm; secondary branches occasional, up to 10 mm.

Fl. Per.: April - June.

Type: Herb. Linn. 71.20. (LINN).

Wet meadows, at springs, on river and lake shores; Distribution: S Europe, N. Africa, Levant, Turkey, Caucasus, SW Siberia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Tadjikistan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan.

Although there is no general agreement as to how to treat highly variable complex of taxa of the genus Scirpoides, it is here considered to represent one species occurring in Europe, northern Africa and SW Asia S. holoschoenus. S. holoschoenus subsp. holoschoenus is a plant up more than 1 m tall typically occurring in Europe on Atlantic and western Mediterranean coasts. In SW Asia and Pakistan grows only S. holoschoenus subsp. australis, which is slender, mostly less than 50 cm tall, and widely distributed in Europe, N. Africa and SW Asia.