刺鳞莎草 ci lin suo cao

Cyperus babakensis Steudel ex Miquel; C. pilosus Vahl var. babakensis (Steudel ex Miquel) C. B. Clarke.

Perennials. Rhizomes stoloniferous. Culms 60-80 cm tall, slightly stout, compressed triquetrous, smooth. Leaves basal, slightly shorter than or subequaling culm; sheath brown and purplish red striate, basalmost bladeless; leaf blade ca. 8 mm wide, with short and transverse septate nodes, midvein and margin scabrous, basally folded, apically flat. Involucral bracts 3 or 4, leaflike, much longer than inflorescence, longest to 25 cm. Inflorescence a simple anthela; rays 3-5, 2.5-12 cm, each with a spike; raylets absent. Spikes ovoid to ellipsoid, ca. 2.5 × 1.8 cm, with several to many spikelets; rachis slightly densely yellowish brown hispidulous. Spikelets slightly densely arranged, spreading, narrowly linear-ovoid to linear-oblong, 0.8-1.2 cm × ca. 2.5 mm, subturgid, 12-30(-40)-flowered; rachilla wings white, narrow, hyaline. Glumes yellowish on both surfaces with purple striae, slightly densely arranged, ovate, 2.5-3 mm, membranous, 7-9-veined, keel green and spinulose especially distally, margin white hyaline, apex obtuse and mucronate. Stamens 3; anthers oblong, 0.7-1 mm; connective prominent beyond anthers. Style short; stigmas 3, ± longer than style. Nutlet black when mature, broadly obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, ca. 1/2 as long as subtending glume, 3-sided, densely puncticulate. Fl. and fr. Jun-Oct.

Wet places, paddy fields; below 300 m. Hainan, SE Xizang [NE India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].