白鳞薹草 bai lin tai cao

Rhizome stoloniferous. Culms tufted, 15-30 cm tall, rather slender, obtusely trigonous, smooth; sheaths leafless at base. Leaves rather shorter than culm, blades flat, ca. 1 mm wide, eventually involute on margins, soft, brown sheathed at base. Involucral bracts brown-green, sheathlike, ca. 1 cm, hyaline on margins, without involucral bract leaf. Spikes usually 3, rarely 2 or 4, slightly approximate; terminal spike male, usually not surpassing adjacent female spike, linear, 1-1.5 cm; lateral spikes usually 2, rarely 1 or 3, female, oblong or subovate, 5-10 mm, loosely 2-6-flowered, peduncles slender. Female glumes stramineous or yellow-brownish, broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm, membranous, not hyaline margined, green 1-veined, apex acute. Utricles yellow-green, brownish yellow at maturity, obliquely patent, slightly longer than glume, broadly obovate or elliptic-obovate, obtusely trigonous, 3.5-4 mm, leathery, glabrous, shiny, several slightly concave veined, base obtusely rounded, margins hyaline, apex contracted into a short beak, orifice obliquely truncate. Nutlets dark brown, tightly enveloped in utricle, obovate-elliptic, trigonous, ca. 2.5 mm, brownish yellow and slightly convex on angles, tuberculate on surface; style base thickened and globose; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. Jun-Jul.

On rocks of mountain slopes, sandy areas, swamps. Xinjiang [Russia; WC Europe].