日东薹草 ri dong tai cao

Rhizome woody, oblique. Culms tufted, 70-80 cm tall, slender, basal sheaths dark brown, bladeless. Leaves shorter than culm, blades linear, 2-3 mm wide, flat, scabrous. Involucral bracts reduced to shortly bladed, long sheathing. Spikes 4, distant, cylindric, 3.5-4 × 0.3-0.4 cm; terminal spike male; lateral spikes female, slightly densely many flowered, with peduncles 15-21 cm, pendent. Female glumes brown, oblong, 3.2-3.5 mm, green 3-veined costa excurrent into a mucro. Utricles longer than glume, obovate-oblong, trigonous, 4.2-4.5 mm, hirsute, nerveless except for 2 costas on edges, base gradually attenuate into a short stipe, apex abruptly contracted into a brown long beak, orifice white hyaline, 2-toothed. Nutlets obovate-oblong, ca. 2 mm; style base slightly thickened; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. Sep.

● Alpine meadows in thickets; 3000-4000 m. Xizang.