Cyperus leptocarpus
(F.Muell.) BautersSlender annual. Culms smooth, 2–35 cm high, less than 1 mm diam. Leaves shorter than culms, 1–2 mm wide. Inflorescence of 1–4 ovoid spikes, each 2–8 mm long, 2–4 mm diam.; involucral bracts 2 or 3, spreading widely, to 12 cm long. Spikelet bract oblong-obovate, 1–1.7 mm long with excurved mucro 0.5–0.7 mm long, pale brown often tinged red-brown; hyaline scales 0.6–1 mm long, occasionally reduced or absent; stamens 1 or 2; anthers 0.2–0.4 mm long; style usually 2-fid. Nut subterete, very narrow-ellipsoid, pale brown, 0.7–1 mm long, c. 0.2 mm diam. Flowers spring–summer.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VRiv, MSB, RobP, MuF, CVU, NIS, EGU, VAlp. All mainland States. Malesia to Japan. In open damp places such as sandy stream-banks and drying lake margins; widespread but scattered and uncommon.
This species was previously included in Lipocarpha, see Bauters et al. (2014).
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.
SpinningBauters, K., Larridon, I., Reynders, M., Asselman, P., Vrijdaghs, A., Muasya, A.M., Simpson, D.A. and Goetghebeur, P. (2014). A new classification for Lipocarpha and Volkiella as infrageneric taxa of Cyperus s.l. (Cypereae, Cyperoideae, Cyperaceae): insights from species tree reconstruction supplemented with morphological and floral developmental data. Phytotaxa 166(1): 1–32.
