Common name: Razor Sedge
Lepidosperma limicola N.A.Wakef. APNI*
Description: Tufted perennial with short vertical rhizome. Culms rigid, erect, biconvex, striate, glabrous, smooth, 60–150 cm high, 3–6 mm wide; margins very scabrous, cutting, yellowish.
Leaves similar in form to culms (or rounded on one edge) but shorter, 2.5–5 mm wide; sheath yellowish near apex, dark grey-brown or blackish at base, not viscid, shining.
Inflorescence oblong in outline, narrow, erect, dense, 5–15 cm long, 1–2 (rarely to 3) cm diam.; involucral bract shorter than inflorescence. Spikelets numerous, 5–9 mm long. Glumes 5–7, glabrous, red-brown to grey-brown; 3 lowest empty, shorter than fertile glumes, acute, mucronate; fertile 5.0–7.0 mm long, long-acute to acute. Scales 5 or 6, a quarter to half the length of nut, yellowish. Anthers 2.3–3.8 mm long, excluding appendage 0.5–0.8 mm long.
Nut narrow-ellipsoid to ellipsoid, 2.5–3.5 mm long, 1.0–1.5 mm diam., pale brown to greyish brown, smooth, shining.
Flowering: Spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Occasional near coast, mainly on coastal ranges and eastern part of tablelands. Grows in swamps.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, NT, CT, ST
Other Australian states: Qld Vic.
Text by K. L. Wilson Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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