禾秆薹草 he gan tai cao

Rhizome short, woody, with 1 or 2 rather long stolons, brown. Culms 60-70 cm tall, erect, rigid, slender, obtusely trigonous, smooth, clothed at base with brown-yellow sheaths disintegrating into parallel fibers. Leaves ca. 1/2 length of culm, blades linear, 1.5-5 mm wide, flattish, revolute, margins scabrous, apex long acuminate. Basal involucral bracts leaflike, slightly shorter than or equaling inflorescence, shortly sheathing, 1.5-2.5 cm, remaining bracts setaceous, very shortly sheathing. Spikes 9-21, approximate, subfastigiate, disposed in a panicle, rarely spicate; upper 7-11 spikes male, castaneous-red, sessile or sometimes lower 1 or 2 slightly shortly pedunculate; terminal spike oblong-elliptic, 15-20 × 3-9 mm, densely many flowered; remaining spikes female, oblong, obovate, or obovate-oblong, 8-25 × 3-8 mm, declined, densely many flowered, sometimes loosely flowered at base. Female glumes red-brown or castaneous, ovate or broadly rhomboid-elliptic, 4-4.5 × 2-2.3 mm, lustrous, densely hirsute on upper part and along margins, margins broadly white hyaline, costa green, 3-veined, veins scabrous, apex acute. Utricles brown-purple or castaneous, longer than glume, obovate-elliptic, compressed, (4.2-)5-6 × 2-3 mm, thinly membranous, densely hirsute, 5-7-veined, base subabruptly contracted into a very short stipe, apex abruptly contracted into a very short beak, orifice broadly white hyaline, obliquely truncate, entire. Nutlets light yellow, loosely enveloped, oblong, trigonous, ca. 2.5 × 1 mm, slightly convex on faces, base cuneate, attenuate into a stipe ca. 0.8 mm, apex abruptly contracted into a mucro; style up to ca. 3 mm, slightly curved; stigmas (2 or)3.

● Shanxi (Wutai Shan).