Lepidosperma longitudinale
Labill. Pithy Sword-sedgeRhizomatous clump- or more often sward-forming perennial, capable of forming extensive colonies, stout rhizome. Culms rigid but compressible, erect, thickly biconvex, glabrous, smooth, 60–200 cm high, 5–10 mm wide; margins acute but smooth, yellowish. Leaf-blades similar in form to culms but shorter and often less strongly biconvex, 3–10 mm wide; sheaths yellow-brown to grey-brown at base, often reddish near apex (culm bases similarly coloured), not viscid, shining. Inflorescence elongated-oblong in outline, narrow-erect to spreading, dense, 15–50 cm long, 2–8 cm diam.; involucral bract shorter than inflorescence. Spikelets numerous, 6–8 mm long; glumes 5–7, acute, often mucronate, red-brown, the 1–3 lowest empty, shorter than fertile glumes; fertile glumes 5–6 mm long; hypogynous scales 6, whitish, from one-quarter to one-half length of nut. Nut narrow-ellipsoid, pale to dark brown, smooth, shining, 2.5–3.5 mm long, 1.5–1.7 mm diam Flowers spring–summer.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, GipP, OtP, WaP, CVU, GGr, DunT, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, OtR, Strz. Also WA, SA, Qld, NSW, Tas. In swampy areas.
The culms are compressible in the middle, and the margins are not cutting, unlike those of Lepidosperma limicola, which is superficially similar. May also be confused with the sward-forming variant of L. congestum in coastal areas, particularly when only vegetative material is present, but L. congestum has non-compressible culms, and more slender culms and rhizomes.
Wilson, K.L. (1994). Cyperaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 238–356. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
