扭喙薹草 niu hui tai cao

Rhizome indurate. Culms 50-95 cm tall, ca. 2 mm thick, acutely trigonous, smooth, scabrous above, clothed at base with dark purple-red bladeless sheaths disintegrating into fibers. Leaves subequaling or shorter than culm, blades linear, 3-5 mm wide, flat, apex acuminate. Involucral bracts leaflike, shorter than inflorescence, sheathless. Spikes 4 or 5, long cylindric, 5.5-11 × 0.3-0.6 cm; terminal spike male, with peduncle 2-5 mm; lateral spikes female, uppermost one approximate to male spike, lowest spike with peduncle 1.5-3.5(-11) cm. Female glumes blackish purple, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, green 1-veined costa excurrent into a mucro, apex rounded. Utricles green, shorter or slightly longer than or equaling glume, elliptic, 2.5-3 mm, smooth or slightly scabrous, purple-red flecked or minutely papillose, apex abruptly contracted into a smooth or scabrous short beak, orifice with 2 divergent teeth; style base not thickened; stigmas 2. Fl. and fr. May.

● Moist grasslands along valleys, streamsides; 2000-3500 m. SW Sichuan, W Yunnan.

Lower Taxa

• Carex melinacra var. changningensis S. Yun Liang
• Carex melinacra var. melinacra