Leaves either all basal or also cauline on noded culms, linear, flat or canaliculate, sometimes reduced to mucronate sheaths; mouth of leaf sheath often hairy, with or without a ligule.
Inflorescence panicle-like with often widely separated nodes (with spikelets solitary or clustered), or head-like, or reduced to a single spikelet; lowest involucral bract leaf-like. Spikelets ± compressed, usually few-flowered, sessile to long-pedicellate. Rachilla straight and with very short internodes in the lower part (between the empty glumes), the upper internodes (between fertile glumes) elongated and prominently zigzag, winged. Glumes distichous, the lowest ones empty, the uppermost one often strongly reduced and empty. Flowers in the hollows of the zigzag rachilla, usually bisexual, but the uppermost often male. Hypogynous bristles up to 6, filiform or scale-like, ciliate to plumose or antrorsely scabrous, or absent. Stamens [1–]3(–6). Style (2-) or 3-fid, continuous with ovary, deciduous.
Nut sessile or shortly stipitate, trigonous, mostly obliquely shaped, mostly 3-ribbed, occasionally hispid near apex.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Inflorescence head-like or consisting of only 1–5 spikelets in 1 or 2 small clusters | 2 |
| Inflorescence elongated, with spikelets clustered at several often distant nodes | 17 |
| 2 | Small, soft-textured leafy, tufted annuals, or small, mat-forming, decumbent or erect perennials; if erect, culms no more than 12 cm long; mouth of leaf sheath and margins of glumes always glabrous | 3 |
| Erect perennials, more or less rigid, shortly rhizomatous or tufted; culms mostly more than 12 cm long, if less then mouth of leaf sheath and/or margins of glumes hairy
Back to 1 | 9 |
| 3 | Tufted annuals | 4 |
| Small, mat-forming, erect or decumbent perennials
Back to 2 | 6 |
| 4 | Inflorescence head-like; glumes red-brown to blackish | Schoenus apogon |
| Inflorescence of 1–5 spikelets; glumes straw-coloured to dark red-brown
Back to 3 | 5 |
| 5 | Fertile glumes 5–7.5 mm long; nut prominently ribbed | Schoenus latelaminatus |
| Fertile glumes 3.0–4.5 mm long; nut winged, at least near apex
Back to 4 | Schoenus centralis |
| 6 | Leaves much exceeding culms | 7 |
| Leaves shorter than culms
Back to 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Culms no more than 2.5 cm long; nut minutely reticulate-pitted or smooth | Schoenus calyptratus |
| Culms at least 4 cm long; nut minutely red-brown hispidulous at apex, whitish or red-brown over rest of body and minutely reticulate
Back to 6 | Schoenus evansianus |
| 8 | Glumes acute; anthers 0.8–1.0 mm long; bristles 3–6, not plumose, shorter than nut; culms decumbent, leafy at nodes | Schoenus maschalinus |
| Glumes obtuse to broad-acute; anthers 1.5–2.0 mm long; bristles 6, plumose, about as long as nut; culms erect, nodeless
Back to 6 | Schoenus nitens |
| 9 | Inflorescence a single spikelet (rarely to 3 in S. lepidosperma and S. pachylepis) | 10 |
| Inflorescence a head-like cluster of spikelets (rarely a second smaller cluster in S. ericetorum)
Back to 2 | 12 |
| 10 | Spikelets 8–22 mm long; fertile glumes 8–16 mm long; bristles scale-like | 11 |
| Spikelets 3–5 mm long; fertile glumes 2.7–4 mm long; bristles plumose
Back to 9 | Schoenus nitens |
| 11 | Spikelets 8–11(–14) mm long; fertile glumes 8–11 mm long; anthers 3.3–4.5 mm long excluding apical appendage 0.3–0.5 mm long; hypogynous scales acute to acuminate, narrow, reaching a third to half the way up body of nut; nut 3.1–3.5 mm long, 1.8–2.0 mm diam.; shortly rhizomatous; culms slender, 0.3–0.5 mm diam | Schoenus lepidosperma |
| Spikelets 15–22 mm long; fertile glumes 13–16 mm long; anthers 6.3–9 mm long excluding apical appendage 0.8–1.8 mm long; hypogynous scales obtuse or rarely acute, very broad, scarcely reaching to top of stipe; nut (including stipe) 4.2–5 mm long, 2.0–2.5 mm diam.; tufted (very shortly rhizomatous); culms relatively coarse, 0.5–1.2 mm diam
Back to 10 | Schoenus pachylepis |
| 12 | Involucral bracts at least twice as long as inflorescence, to 8 cm long | 13 |
| Involucral bracts less than twice as long as inflorescence (often shorter than it), to 2.5 cm long
Back to 9 | 14 |
| 13 | Tufted; 2–4 involucral bracts much longer than inflorescence | Schoenus turbinatus |
| Rhizomatous; a single involucral bract much longer than inflorescence
Back to 12 | Schoenus nitens |
| 14 | Stamens 3; nut 1.3–1.5 mm long | 15 |
| Stamens 4–6; nut 1.4–2.7 mm long
Back to 12 | 16 |
| 15 | Mouth of leaf sheath long-ciliate; glumes 6–11, lowest 4–8 empty | Schoenus ericetorum |
| Mouth of leaf sheath glabrous or sparsely and minutely ciliolate; glumes 5–7, lowest 3–5 empty
Back to 14 | Schoenus imberbis |
| 16 | Leaf sheaths loose around the culms, surface shining, smooth; mouth of sheath sparsely ciliate | Schoenus subaphyllus |
| Leaf sheaths tight, surface more or less dull, striate, papillose; mouth of sheath glabrous
Back to 14 | Schoenus kennyi |
| 17 | Small, soft-textured leafy, tufted annnuals, or small, mat-forming or decumbent perennials; if erect, culms no more than 20 cm long | 18 |
| Rigid, erect perennials (Schoenus apogon , shortly rhizomatous or tufted; culms mostly 10–130 cm long, if less then culms scabrous (S. moorei) or leaves very numerous and filiform (S. tesquorum)
Back to 1 | 22 |
| 18 | Decumbent or loosely mat-forming slender perennial; nut surface faintly scrobiculate or reticulate or smooth | Schoenus maschalinus |
| Erect, tufted annuals; nut surface pitted, reticulate, or trabeculate
Back to 17 | 19 |
| 19 | Bristles absent or several, minute; fertile glumes 3.0–7.5 mm long | 20 |
| Bristles 5 or 6, somewhat shorter than or equalling nut; fertile glumes 2.0–5.5 mm long
Back to 18 | 21 |
| 20 | Fertile glumes 5–7.5 mm long; nut prominently ribbed | Schoenus latelaminatus |
| Fertile glumes 3.0–4.5 mm long; nut winged, at least near apex
Back to 19 | Schoenus centralis |
| 21 | Inflorescence with 5–9 distant clusters of mostly long-pedicellate spikelets; glumes straw-coloured with red-brown patches; nut blackish brown | Anthelepis paludosa |
| Inflorescence with a head-like cluster of subsessile spikelets plus 1–4 smaller clusters below; glumes red-brown to blackish; nut whitish
Back to 19 | Schoenus apogon |
| 22 | Leaves obvious; blade well-developed, to 30 cm long | 23 |
| Leaves not obvious; blade to 3 cm long or reduced to a small bract on sheath
Back to 17 | 27 |
| 23 | Spikelets 20–30 mm long | Schoenus calostachyus |
| Spikelets 2–14 mm long
Back to 22 | 24 |
| 24 | Nut transversely wrinkled, hairy or glabrous; culms scabrous or smooth | 25 |
| Nut smooth or minutely pitted-reticulate or longitudinally striate and trabeculate, glabrous; culms smooth
Back to 23 | 26 |
| 25 | Nut hairy; culms scabrous; mouth of leaf sheath glabrous or slightly ciliate | Schoenus moorei |
| Nut glabrous; culms smooth; mouth of leaf sheath densely long-ciliate
Back to 24 | Schoenus villosus |
| 26 | Perennial, with numerous filiform leaves at base of plant; bristles several minute or absent | Schoenus tesquorum |
| Annual, leafy but without numerous filiform leaves at base; bristles 5 or 6, shorter than to equalling nut
Back to 24 | Schoenus apogon |
| 27 | Culms not noded | 28 |
| Culms with 1-several nodes
Back to 22 | 30 |
| 28 | Mouth of leaf sheath glabrous; sheaths dark red-brown, more or less smooth; fertile glumes 7–10 mm long | Schoenus brevifolius |
| Mouth of leaf sheath villous or woolly; leaf sheaths dark red-brown to blackish, scaberulous; fertile glumes 4–7 mm long
Back to 27 | 29 |
| 29 | Culms 1.3–2.5 mm in diameter, with longitudinal ribs (costal zones) wider than intercostal zones; inflorescence 7–25 cm long | Schoenus melanostachys |
| Culms 0.6–0.9 mm in diameter, with longitudinal ribs (costal zones) narrower than intercostal zones; inflorescence 3–7 cm long
Back to 28 | Schoenus rupicola |
| 30 | Inflorescence with 5–9 nodes; spikelets 8–11 mm long; fertile glumes 7–9 mm long; anthers 3.0–4.5 mm long; nut c. 1.5 mm long (no stipe present), c. 0.8 mm diam. | Schoenus vaginatus |
| Inflorescence with 2 or 3 nodes; spikelets 12–21 mm long; fertile glumes 12–15 mm long; anthers 5.7–6.2 mm long; nut c. 5.5 mm long (including long stipe), 1.3–1.4 mm diam.
Back to 27 | Schoenus scabripes |
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