丫蕊薹草 ya rui tai cao

Rhizome woody. Culms tufted, lateral, flaccid, 15-20 × ca. 0.1 cm, trigonous, loosely hairy and glabrescent later, base with pale brown sheaths. Leaves basal and cauline; basal leaves tufted, linear or linear-elliptic, 15-25 × 1.5-3 cm, glabrous, apex acuminate; petiole 1-10 cm, base covered with brown sheaths, upper part with narrow wings formed by leaf blade base; cauline leaves often absent, if present then brown, spathelike, membranous, glabrous or loosely pubescent. Involucral bracts spathelike. Panicle simple, triangular-ovate, 1.5-3 × 2-3 cm; peduncles of inflorescence branches tenuous, 1-3 cm, loosely pubescent; bractlets pale yellow with dense brown spots and short lines, glumelike, lanceolate, 3-7 mm, membranous. Spikes 1-10, bisexual, androgynous, arising from flowerless utriculiform cladoprophylls, oblong-cylindric, 7-10 mm; male part of spike nearly same length as female part, oblong-cylindric; female part 3-8-flowered; male glumes pale brownish white with dense brown spots and short lines, lanceolate, 3-4 mm, with 1 midrib, apex acuminate; female glumes pale brownish white with dense brown spots and short lines, lanceolate, 2-3 mm, membranous, glabrous, 1-veined, apex obtuse. Utricles pale brownish white with dense brown spots and short lines, rhomboid-ovate or elliptic, trigonous, patent, 3.5-4 mm, membranous, with 2 lateral veins abaxially, subsessile, apex contracted into long beak, beak slightly shorter than 1/2 length of utricle, orifice obliquely truncate. Nutlets brown at maturity, subovate, trigonous, 1.5-2 mm; style base thickened; stigmas 3.

● Woods, shady slopes; 700-1700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi.