Cyperaceae taxon details
Xyroschoenus Larridon
recent only
Not documented
Description Perennial tufted herbs, 0.9–1.5(–2) m high; plants clonal, 0.3–1 m across; rhizome thick, woody, short, branched,...
Description Perennial tufted herbs, 0.9–1.5(–2) m high; plants clonal, 0.3–1 m across; rhizome thick, woody, short, branched, 20–50 mm diam., not pseudobulbous, ultimately forming an erect caudex; old leaf sheaths covering the rhizome, sometimes breaking apart into fibres with age, reddish brown to dark brown; roots not sand-binding. Culms (above rosette) stout, erect, with 5–10 leafy nodes, obtusely trigonous, 3–9 mm diam., green, smooth, glabrous, base not enlarged. Leaves mostly basal, numerous, and 5–10 cauline; phyllotaxy loosely spirotristichous, sheath glabrous, open, 30–60 mm long, 20–30 mm wide, broader than the leaf lamina, brown, upper margin not membranous, ligule absent; basal leaves 50–90 cm long, (5–)10–15 mm wide, lamina dorsiventral, ± linear, coriaceous, curved, finely multi-striate, scabrid below on acute midrib, yellow-green, green, or sometimes dark green, slightly paler below, margins harshly scabrous to denticulate, sometimes splitting into fibres with age, revolute with age, apex gradually attenuate; cauline leaf lamina 20–50 cm long. Inflorescence open, panicle-like, spreading, lanceolate to ovate, 45–60 cm long, 10–55 cm wide, with 8–12 fertile nodes; axis green; bracts leaf-like, coriaceous, smooth, with reddish brown sheaths 20–25 mm long, becoming progressively smaller up the culm, shorter than the branchlets, basal bract usually much shorter than inflorescence; branchlets numerous, 8–25 cm long, arcuate downwards, solitary in lower part of inflorescence, the upper ones in groups of 4 or 5, arising in each bract axil, greatly exceeding the bract sheath; spikelets solitary on peduncles 3–8 mm long; spikelet prophyll subtending each spikelet glume-like, sheath 1.5–2.2 mm long, brown, partially enclosing the spikelet, with a slender lamina 3.1–4.5 mm long, brown. Spikelets very numerous, brown to dark brown, oblate to lanceolate, 5–8 mm long, 1.5–2 mm diam., acute, pendant to spreading, subterete, not compressed, with 7–9 glumes, the upper 2 larger glumes each subtending a flower, lower flower male, sterile, upper bisexual, fertile, lower 5–7 glumes empty, glumes distichous, membranous, lower glumes caducous, lowest glume 2.5 mm long, upper glumes 5–6 mm long, 1.8–2.6 mm wide, hispidulous when young, glabrescent, lanceolate, cuspidate, keeled; rachilla elongated and incurved to sinuous between the two flowers, in fruiting spikelets flattened, 3-ribbed. Perianth segments present, bristles (6–)7–8, flattened, long plumose, 5–6 mm long, c. 3 times as long as the nutlet. Stamens 3; anther connective 4–6 mm long, white, drying dark purple, subulate; anthers c. 3 mm long, linear-oblong, base auriculate, with a scabrous apical appendage up to 0.8 mm long. Style 3-fid, base 5–6 mm long, glabrous, thin throughout, branches 5–7 mm long, hispidulous. Nutlet sessile, subovoid, subterete but somewhat trigonous, with 3 longitudinal ribs, maturing dark brown, apex brown, smooth, 1.5–1.7 mm long including the style base, c. 1 mm diam., mesocarp smooth, epidermal cells square–hexagonal, but inconspicuous; style base only slightly thickened, persistent, hispidulous, c. 0.3 mm long; embryo not examined. Photosynthetic pathway not examined. [details]
Cyperaceae Working Group. (2025). [see How to cite]. Global Cyperaceae Database. Xyroschoenus Larridon. Accessed at: https://cyperaceae.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1675341 on 2025-09-11
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Nomenclature
basis of record
Plants of the World Online (POWO). , available online at https://powo.science.kew.org/ [details]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Description Perennial tufted herbs, 0.9–1.5(–2) m high; plants clonal, 0.3–1 m across; rhizome thick, woody, short, branched, 20–50 mm diam., not pseudobulbous, ultimately forming an erect caudex; old leaf sheaths covering the rhizome, sometimes breaking apart into fibres with age, reddish brown to dark brown; roots not sand-binding. Culms (above rosette) stout, erect, with 5–10 leafy nodes, obtusely trigonous, 3–9 mm diam., green, smooth, glabrous, base not enlarged. Leaves mostly basal, numerous, and 5–10 cauline; phyllotaxy loosely spirotristichous, sheath glabrous, open, 30–60 mm long, 20–30 mm wide, broader than the leaf lamina, brown, upper margin not membranous, ligule absent; basal leaves 50–90 cm long, (5–)10–15 mm wide, lamina dorsiventral, ± linear, coriaceous, curved, finely multi-striate, scabrid below on acute midrib, yellow-green, green, or sometimes dark green, slightly paler below, margins harshly scabrous to denticulate, sometimes splitting into fibres with age, revolute with age, apex gradually attenuate; cauline leaf lamina 20–50 cm long. Inflorescence open, panicle-like, spreading, lanceolate to ovate, 45–60 cm long, 10–55 cm wide, with 8–12 fertile nodes; axis green; bracts leaf-like, coriaceous, smooth, with reddish brown sheaths 20–25 mm long, becoming progressively smaller up the culm, shorter than the branchlets, basal bract usually much shorter than inflorescence; branchlets numerous, 8–25 cm long, arcuate downwards, solitary in lower part of inflorescence, the upper ones in groups of 4 or 5, arising in each bract axil, greatly exceeding the bract sheath; spikelets solitary on peduncles 3–8 mm long; spikelet prophyll subtending each spikelet glume-like, sheath 1.5–2.2 mm long, brown, partially enclosing the spikelet, with a slender lamina 3.1–4.5 mm long, brown. Spikelets very numerous, brown to dark brown, oblate to lanceolate, 5–8 mm long, 1.5–2 mm diam., acute, pendant to spreading, subterete, not compressed, with 7–9 glumes, the upper 2 larger glumes each subtending a flower, lower flower male, sterile, upper bisexual, fertile, lower 5–7 glumes empty, glumes distichous, membranous, lower glumes caducous, lowest glume 2.5 mm long, upper glumes 5–6 mm long, 1.8–2.6 mm wide, hispidulous when young, glabrescent, lanceolate, cuspidate, keeled; rachilla elongated and incurved to sinuous between the two flowers, in fruiting spikelets flattened, 3-ribbed. Perianth segments present, bristles (6–)7–8, flattened, long plumose, 5–6 mm long, c. 3 times as long as the nutlet. Stamens 3; anther connective 4–6 mm long, white, drying dark purple, subulate; anthers c. 3 mm long, linear-oblong, base auriculate, with a scabrous apical appendage up to 0.8 mm long. Style 3-fid, base 5–6 mm long, glabrous, thin throughout, branches 5–7 mm long, hispidulous. Nutlet sessile, subovoid, subterete but somewhat trigonous, with 3 longitudinal ribs, maturing dark brown, apex brown, smooth, 1.5–1.7 mm long including the style base, c. 1 mm diam., mesocarp smooth, epidermal cells square–hexagonal, but inconspicuous; style base only slightly thickened, persistent, hispidulous, c. 0.3 mm long; embryo not examined. Photosynthetic pathway not examined. [details]
