东方羊胡子草 dong fang yang hu zi cao

Rhizomes short; stolons slender, creeping. Culms scattered, 35-114 cm tall, subterete but apically 3-angled, smooth. Basal leaves shorter than culm; leaf blade 2-9 mm wide, flat, leathery, margin scabrous, apex long acuminate and 3-angled. Cauline leaves 1-3; sheath blackish purple, long, slightly inflated; leaf blade 3-5(-7) mm wide, plicate or flat, apex 3-angled. Involucral bracts 2 or 3, dark brown, spathelike, erect, with leaflike blade to 12 cm, apex 3-angled and green. Inflorescence a simple anthela, with (1 or)2-10 spikelets. Spikelets ovoid to ellipsoid, 10-15 × 5-7 mm; peduncles unequal, flattened, smooth or scabrous, often dropping. Glumes pale brownish gray, ovate to lanceolate, 5-5.5 × 1.8-2 mm, membranous, 1-veined but sometimes obscurely 3-veined at base, apex obtuse. Perianth bristles 10 or more, white, 3-4 mm, soft, unbranched at ends, apex acute. Stamens 3; anthers linear, (2-)3-4(-5) mm. Style slender; stigmas 3. Nutlet black, narrowly obovoid, 2-3 × ca. 1 mm, compressed 3-sided, apex beaked. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug. 2n = 58.

Marshes, wet places; (100-)400-800 m. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, N Sichuan [Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia; Europe, North America].

In FRPS (11: 37, t. XV. 1961), the name Eriophorum latifolium Hoppe was misapplied to this species, following the usage in Fl. URSS (3: 29. 1935). The name E. polystachion Linnaeus, nom. utique rej., has often been applied to both species.