Fimbristylis microcarya

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Fimbristylis microcarya

Description

Annual. Leaves shorter than the stems, flat, weak, rather abruptly acuminate. glabrous, scabrid on the margins in the upper part, 1-2 mm wide; Inflorescence decompound, very loose, diffuse, with many spikelets, 3-7 cm long. Stamen 1 (see Notes);

Distribution

Alor present, Asia-Tropical: India present; New Guinea present; Philippines (Philippines present), Australasia: Queensland (Queensland present), Cavite present, E. Asia present, E. Java present, Lesser Sunda Is present, Luzon present, N. Australia present, Papua present, Rizal present, Southern America: Argentina Northeast (Formosa present), near Port Moresby present, near Surabaya present
Widely distributed in N. Australia and Queensland, also reported from India and E. Asia (Formosa) (see Notes); in Malesia a few times col- lected in very distant localities: E. Java (near Surabaya), Lesser Sunda Is. (Alor), Philippines (Luzon, prov. of Cavite and Rizal), New Guinea (Papua: near Port Moresby).

Notes

The Malesian plants agree in details with the Australian ones. The Indian specimens I have seen are dwarfs, with contracted inflorescence, anthers 2/5 mm long, and nuts ¾ by c. ½ mm. They may represent CLARKE'S 'F. complanata var. micro- carya', but fit also very well the description of F. woodrowii C. B. CLARKE (type not seen).
The description of F. taiwanica OHWI leaves little doubt that the Formosa plants belong to F. micro- carya. According to OHWI the plants are diandrous.
F. microcarya is very near to the N. American-E. Asiatic F. autumnalis (L.) R. & S., but the nuts of the latter are very different (larger, triquetrous with flat faces, epidermal cells ± isodiametric in many rows); the style is longer, and the spikelets larger. The spikelets of F. microcarya are the smallest in the genus.

Citation

F.v.M. 1968 – In: Back. & Bakh.f., Fl. Java 3: 464
OHWI 1944 – In: Mem. Coll. Sc. Kyoto Imp. Un. B: 62
DOMIN 1915 – In: Bibl. Bot.: 462
S. T. BLAKE 1937 – In: Proc. R. Soc. Queensl.: 93
KOYAMA 1961 – In: J. Fac. Sc. Un. Tokyo: 104
KERN 1955 – In: Blumea: 111
Benth. 1878 – In: Fl. Austr.: 316