Schoenus melanostachys
Content
Description
Perennial, with abbreviated or shortly creeping rhizome.
Leaves 1-2, with purplish sheaths woolly bearded at the mouth, and very short, spreading, obtuse blades ½-1½ (sometimes up to 5) cm long.
Inflorescence racemose or paniculate, narrow, loose, consisting of 4-5 fascicles of branches, 4-20 cm long.
Stamens 3;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Philippines (Philippines present), Australasia: Queensland (Queensland present), Mindoro present, Mt Halcon present, Mt Kinabalu present, N. Borneo present, N. S. Wales present, W. Australia present
Australia (Queensland, N. S. Wales, ? W. Australia); in Malesia: N. Borneo (Mt Kinabalu), Philippines (Mindoro: Mt Halcon).
Notes
The very juvenile collection from Mt Halcon (MERRILL 6173) was treated as a separate species (5. halconensis) by KÜKENTHAL, on account of the tufted shorter stems, the occasionally slightly elongated leaf-blades, the shorter racemose inflorescence, the less numerous 1-flowered spikelets, the filaments fuscous at the base, and the almost smooth nut. In the specimens from Mt Kinabalu, which KÜKENTHAL referred to S. melanostachys, the stems are also densely tufted and short, and the spikelets only 1-flowered. The nuts in MERRILL 6173 are immature. Cespitose rhizomes and filaments fuscous at the base I also observed in Australian specimens of S. melanostachys. To me the plants occurring at the isolated stations in Borneo and Mindoro cannot be separated specifically from S. melanostachys.
Citation
STAPF & TURR. 1914 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot. p 77
Benth. 1878 – In: Fl. Austr. p 370
R.BR. 1923 – In: En. Philip. p 128
KUNTH 1837 – In: En. p 335
Merr. 1921: En. Born. p 62
STEUD. 1855 – In: Syn. p 165
Merr. 1907 – In: Philip. J. Sc. Bot. 263
KÜK. 1938 – In: Fedde, Rep. 44. p 30
Clarke 1894 – In: Stapf, Trans. Linn. Soc. 4. p 245
BOECK. 1874 – In: Linnaea. p 284