Leaves basal only, or basal and cauline, ligulate; sheath with adaxial apex truncate to U- or V-shaped; blade usually linear, flat, with or without keeled midrib, profile V-shaped, flanged V-shaped or crescentiform
Inflorescence spicate, glomerate-spicate to glomerate-paniculate, paniculate, or a raceme of spikes
Spikelets unisexual, 1-flowered, solitary in axils of glume-like bracts; male spikelet naked, female spikelet, sometimes together with vestigial rachilla, surrounded by modified prophyll (perigynium); perigynium almost closed, apex usually 2-toothed
Perianth 0
Stamens 3
Style 2- or 3-branched
Nutlet ellipsoid to obovate, biconvex or 3-angled, beaked, papillose, remaining within perigynium at dispersal
x = 10 (6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13) (high aneuploids, high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Carex L.
Linnaeus: 972 (1753)
Thunberg: 14 (1794)
Kunth: 368 (1837)
Clarke: 299 (1898)
Clarke: 514 (1902)
Kükenthal: 67 (1909)
Schonland: 68 (1922)
Levyns: 130 (1950)
Gordon-Gray: 112 (1972)
Compton: 75 (1976)
Bond & Goldblatt: 38 (1984)
Forbes: 38 (1987)
Gordon-Gray: 36 (1995)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 2 000, ± cosmopolitan in moist temperate climates and extending into arctic and antarctic regions
Southern Africa: Species ± 14, occurring in Northern Province, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Northern, Western and Eastern Cape, with 1 in Namibia and Botswana (not recorded in Podlech 1967) and 1 endemic to Lesotho
References:
BOND, P. & GOLDBLATT, P. 1984. Plants of the Cape Flora: A descriptive catalogue. Journal of South African Botany Suppl. Vol. 13
CLARKE, C.B. 1898. Cyperaceae. Flora capensis 7
CLARKE, C.B. 1902. Cyperaceae. Flora of tropical Africa 8
COMPTON, R.H. 1976. Cyperaceae. Flora of Swaziland. Journal of South African Botany Suppl. Vol. 11
FORBES, P.L. 1987. Cyperaceae. In T.K. Lowrey & S. Wright, The Flora of the Witwatersrand Vol. 1: The Monocotyledonae. Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg
GORDON-GRAY, K.D. 1972. Cyperaceae. In J.H. Ross, The Flora of Natal. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa No. 39
GORDON-GRAY, K.D. 1995. Cyperaceae in Natal. Strelitzia 2
KÜKENTHAL, G. 1909. Cyperaceae - Caricoideae. Das Pflanzenreich 38
LEVYNS, M.R. 1950. Cyperaceae. In R.S. Adamson & T.M. Salter, Flora of the Cape Peninsula. Juta, Cape Town
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
SCHONLAND, S. 1922. Introduction to South African Cyperaceae. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa No. 3
THUNBERG, C.P. 1794. Prodromus plantarum capensium. Edman, Uppsala.
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