高秆薹草 gao gan tai cao

Carex alta var. latialata Kükenthal; C. remota Linnaeus subsp. alta (Boott) Kükenthal.

Rhizome short, indurate. Culms densely tufted, 40-80 cm tall, obtusely trigonous, scabrous, clothed at base with several pale brown bladeless sheaths sometimes slightly disintegrating into fibers. Leaves shorter than culm, blades linear, 2-3 mm wide, flat, margins slightly scabrous. Lower involucral bracts leaflike, surpassing inflorescence, upper setaceous or glumelike. Spikes 9-22, gynaecandrous, ovate to oblong-ovate, 5-12 × ca. 3 mm, upper spikes approximate, lower ones remote. Female glumes pale green, ovate or narrowly ovate to lanceolate, ca. 2.5 × 1-1.5 mm, membranous, 1-veined at middle. Utricles pale green, slightly longer than glume, elliptic or elliptic-ovate, plano-convex, ca. 2.5 mm, membranous, spongy, many veined on both faces, base subrounded, upper margins slightly serrulate winged, apex abruptly contracted into a short beak, orifice 2-toothed. Nutlets rather loosely enveloped, elliptic, base subcuneate; style base slightly thickened; stigmas 2. Fl. and fr. May-Jul.

Grassland slopes, wet places in dense forests; 1500-2500 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, N Vietnam].