柄果嵩草 bing guo song cao

Kobresia esenbeckii (Kunth) Noltie var. fissiglumis (C. B. Clarke) Noltie.

Rhizomes short. Basal sheaths prominent and persistent, brown, dull, not retaining dried leaf blades. Culms densely tufted, erect, triquetrous or obtusely trigonous, 3-14 cm tall, slender, ca. 0.5 mm in diam. Leaves basal, shorter than to exceeding culms; blade flat, 1.5-2 mm wide, midrib distinct abaxially. Inflorescences spicate, unisexual, dense above, looser below, male and female inflorescences borne on same plant; all spikelets unisexual, 1-flowered; lowest involucral bract of female spikes glumelike, apex obtuse. Male spikes linear, ca. 1.5 × 0.3 cm; male glumes reddish brown, oblong, 6-7 × ca. 2 mm, 1-veined, margin hyaline, apex obtuse. Female spikes linear, 2.2-4 × 0.2-0.3 cm; female glumes brown or reddish brown laterally, with green midvein, oblong or narrowly ovate, 3.5-5 × 1-1.5 mm, midvein narrow, margin of upper parts hyaline, apex rounded or obtuse. Prophylls pale brown or brown, oblong or elliptic-oblong, 2-3 × 0.5-0.9 mm, membranous, not keeled, margins open to base even in juvenile stage, apex rounded. Nutlets narrowly oblong, trigonous, stipitate and beaked, 2-3.5 (excluding beak) × 0.5-0.9 mm in diam., stipe 0.6-0.7 mm, beak 1-1.5 mm. Stigmas 3, curved, slender. Sterile rachilla of female spikelets linear, minute. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

Grassy slopes, on rocks and cliff ledges; 3200-4300 m. Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim), Nepal].