隐穗柄薹草 yin sui bing tai cao

Carex speciosa Kunth var. courtallensis (Nees ex Boott) Kükenthal.

Rhizome elongate. Culms loosely tufted, 35-55 cm tall, 1.5-2 mm thick, triquetrous, stiff, smooth. Leaves shorter than culm, blades flat, 0.8-2 cm wide, smooth, soft, with few dark brown persistent leaf sheaths. Involucral bracts leaflike, longer than inflorescence, flat, 8-12 mm wide, long sheathed. Spikes 2-6, androgynous, remote, lowest one borne at middle part or base of culm, cylindric, 4-6 cm, 3-5 mm thick, densely many flowered; male part of spike slightly shorter than female part, slightly thin. Female glumes green, ovate or ovate-oblong, 3.5-4 mm, papery, 1-costate and few thinly veined, ciliate on margins of upper part, apex rounded or obtuse. Utricles green, elliptic, slightly inflated trigonous, 4.8-5 mm, papery, glabrous, many veined, base attenuate, spongiform, margins narrowly winged and ciliate, apex abruptly contracted into a short beak, orifice 2-toothed. Nutlets brown at maturity, obovate-oblong, trigonous, 2.5-3 mm, base shortly stipitate, apex rounded and beakless; style base not thickened; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. May-Aug.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 1300-2800 m. Yunnan [India, Laos, Nepal, Vietnam].