Common name: Shiny Bog-rush
Schoenus nitens (R.Br.) Roem. & Schult. APNI* Synonyms: Schoenus nitens var. major Ewart & Jean White APNI* Schoenus nitens var. concinnus (Hook.f.) Cheeseman APNI*
Description: Small perennial, with slender creeping rhizome.
Culms erect, rigid, grooved, nodeless, 3–37 cm long, 0.5–1 mm diam.
Leaves with blade to 16 cm long; sheath red-brown, smooth or striate, shining; mouth glabrous; ligule present. Inflorescence head-like, loosely hemispherical, or reduced to 1 spikelet, erect, 0.2–1 cm diam.; lowest involucral bract to 6 cm long. Spikelets ovate, acute, 2- or 3-flowered, 3–5 mm long. Glumes 4–7, lowest 1–3 empty, broad-ovate, obtuse to broad-acute, red-brown to dark yellow-brown, ± shining, with glabrous, hyaline, red-dotted margins; fertile glumes 2.7–4 mm long. Bristles 6, plumose, about as long as nut. Stamens 3; anthers 1.5–1.7 mm long.
Nut trigonous, ellipsoid to obovoid, 1.1–1.6 mm long, 0.7–1.1 mm diam., angles not ribbed, smooth or minutely and faintly scrobiculate, glabrous, shining, straw-coloured to golden brown.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Usually grows in damp areas behind beaches or beside brackish soaks farther inland; along coast and beside Lake Bathurst.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, ST
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. Tas. W.A. S.A.
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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