Abildgaardia Vahl; Cyperus subg. Iria Richard; Iria (Richard) R. Hedwig.

Herbs, annual or perennial, medium sized, often rhizomatous. Culms usually tufted, slender, 3- or 5-angled or flattened. Leaves basal, sometimes reduced to a bladeless sheath; ligule if present membranous or a fringe of hairs; leaf blade linear, filiform, or rarely ensiform, usually dorsiventrally compressed and canaliculate, often adaxially cellular-reticulate. Inflorescences terminal, a simple, compound, or decompound anthela, rarely capitate or reduced to 1 terminal spikelet. Spikelets solitary or fascicled, ovoid, ellipsoid, or subglobose, terete or flattened, with several to many flowers. Glumes spirally imbricate, distichous, or only basal ones distichous and apical ones spirally imbricate, often with 1 or more veins forming an abaxial keel and sometimes extending into an apical mucro or arista. Flowers bisexual. Perianth bristles absent. Stamens 1-3. Style not persistent on nutlet, basally enlarged. Nutlet sometimes stipitate, biconvex, 3-sided, or almost terete, either reticulate, verruculose, or both.

Although J. Kern reported Fimbristylis merrillii J. Kern from S China (Blumea 8: 135. 1955), no specimen from China has been seen by the present authors, and we doubt that it actually occurs in China.

Over 200 species: worldwide but mostly subtropical and tropical with center of distribution in SE Asia; 53 species (ten endemic) in China.

(Authors: Zhang Shuren (张树仁), Liang Songyun (梁松筠 Liang Song-jun); Tetsuo Koyama, David A. Simpson)