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This species is accepted, and its native range is Tropical & Subtropical Old World.

[FTEA]

Cyperaceae, K Hoenselaar, B. Verdcourt & H. Beentje. Hypolytrum, D Simpson. Fuirena, M Muasya. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2010

Type
Type: Sri Lanka, south, C.P. 3818 (ubi?)
Habit
Annual or perennial, with stems crowded on a short rhizome, old dead stems frequently persistent, up to 45 cm high.
Culms
Culms rounded to trigonous, 14–21 cm long, 0.2–1 mm wide, with slight longitudinal ridges, glabrous, basally with very few scales
Leaves
Leaf sheath greenish-brown, 2–5 cm long. Leaves subtending the primary branches with sheath 1.5–2 cm long, blade 7–12 cm long, 0.3–0.8 cm wide; primary branches 2.5–8 cm long. Leaves up to 30 cm long. Leaf blade linear, canaliculate, 13–26 cm long, 0.3–1.2 mm wide, ligule very thin and translucent, sometimes a distinct ridge, apex acuminate, minutely scabrid
Inflorescences
Inflorescence a panicle, spread along the culm.
Spikelets
Spikelets in clusters at the end of primary branches, pedicillate, 1–5 per cluster, (ovoid)lanceolate, 4.5–10 mm long, 0.8–2.2 mm wide, axis zigzag.
Glume
Flower-bearing glumes 3–4, bisexual, 3.2–5.5 mm long, 1.9–3 mm wide; glabrous, keel acute, 1-veined, apex awned Glumes 6–7 per spikelet, brown, ovate, non-flower bearing glumes 2–3, 2.5–3.3 mm long, 1.4–1.8 mm wide.
Perianth
Perianth absent
Stamens
Stamens 2.
Filaments
Filaments 3.3–4 mm long.
Anthers
Anthers 1.6–1.8 mm long
Fruits
Nutlet white(-grey), broadly oblongquadrangular, sometimes ± triangular, 0.9–1.8 mm long, 1–1.6 mm wide, transversely wavy.
Style
Style base grey to almost black, 0.2–0.4 mm long. Style with 2 branches
Pedicel
Pedicel 0.1–0.2 mm long.

Native to:

Andaman Is., Assam, Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Repu, China Southeast, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Nigeria, Queensland, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

Rhynchospora gracillima Thwaites appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Apr 1, 1967 Smitinand, T. [5008], Thailand K000498935
Apr 1, 1967 Smitinand, T. [5948], Thailand K000498936
Chantaranothai, P. [90/137], Thailand K000498934
s.coll. [3818], Sri Lanka K000357555 isotype

First published in Enum. Pl. Zeyl.: 435 (1864)

Accepted by

  • Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2010). Flora of China 23: 1-515. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
  • Hoenselaar, K., Verdcourt, B. & Beentje, H. (2010). Cyperaceae Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1-466.
  • Fischer, E., Rembold, K., Althof, A. & Obholzer, J. (2010). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Kakamega forest, Western province, Kenya Journal of East African Natural History 99: 129-226.
  • Dey, S. & Prasanna, P.V. (2010). The tribe Rhynchosporeae (Cyperaceae) in India Rheedea 20: 1-19.
  • Pandey, R.P. & Dilwakar, P.G. (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands, India Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403-500.
  • Govaerts, R. & Simpson, D.A. (2007). World Checklist of Cyperaceae. Sedges: 1-765. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
  • Govaerts, R. (2004). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-54382. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 435 (1864).

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Browning, J. & al. (2020). Flora Zambesiaca 14: 1-455. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Marais, W. & Araujo, A.C. (2018). Flore des Mascareignes 202: 1-99. IRD Éditions, MSIRI, RBG-Kew, Paris.
  • Lye, K.A. & Thery, P. (2012). Flore du Gabon 44: 1-230. Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
  • Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2010). Flora of China 23: 1-515. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
  • Fischer, E., Rembold, K., Althof, A. & Obholzer, J. (2010). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Kakamega forest, Western province, Kenya Journal of East African Natural History 99: 129-226.
  • Dey, S. & Prasanna, P.V. (2010). The tribe Rhynchosporeae (Cyperaceae) in India Rheedea 20: 1-19.
  • Pandey, R.P. & Dilwakar, P.G. (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands, India Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403-500.
  • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Enum. Pl. Zeyl.: 435 (1864).

Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0