8. Bolboschoenus (Ascherson) Palla in Hallier & Brand, Syn. Deut. Schweiz. Fl., ed. 3. 3: 2531. 1905.
三棱草属 san leng cao shu
Authors: Prof. Song-Yun Liang, Gordon C. Tucker & David A. Simpson
Scirpus [unranked] Bolboschoenus Ascherson, Fl. Brandenburg 1: 753. 1864.
Herbs, perennial. Rhizomes often forming hard ovoid tubers. Culms many nodose, base bulbously thickened. Leaves basal and cauline; sheath tubular; ligule absent; leaf blades linear, flat. Involucral bracts leaflike, surpassing inflorescence, spreading. Inflorescence a terminal anthela or capitate with 1 to many spikelets. Spikelets with many spirally arranged deciduous glumes, each subtending a bisexual flower. Perianth bristles 3-6, shorter to longer than nutlet, deciduous with nutlet. Stamens 3. Style base not distinct, slightly thickened or not, persistent. Nutlet biconvex to 3-sided, smooth, apex beaked.
About eight species: mainly in North America and E Asia; four species in China.
A hybrid, Scirpus ×mariqueter Tang & F. T. Wang (Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 11: 223. 1961), was originally described from Beijing. It was believed to be a hybrid of Bolboschoenus planiculmis and Schoenoplectus triqueter. Specimens have since been collected from Shanxi. Under current generic concepts, it is considered an intergeneric hybrid, ×Bolboschoenoplectus mariqueter (Tang & F. T. Wang) Tatanov (Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 39: 154. 2007).
