Leaves eligulate; sheath split to base; blade short or 0, without keeled midrib, profile thickly crescentiform
Inflorescence capitate; subtending bracts erect
Spikes 1-10, ellipsoid-cylindric, obtuse
Spikelets elliptical to lanceolate, dorsiventrally compressed
Perianth 0
Stamens 3
Style short; branches 3, long
Nutlet grey or black, obovoid, flattened, minutely papillose, falling with filaments
Nomenclature:
Hellmuthia Steud.
Steudel: 90 (1855)
Haines & Lye: 61 (1976)
Bond & Goldblatt: 42 (1984)
Scirpus L. in part
Thunberg: 17 (1794)
Clarke: 224 (1898)
Schonland: 36 (1922)
Levyns: 101 (1950)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa: Species 1: Hellmuthia membranacea (Thunb.) R.W.Haines & Lye, Western Cape coast from Cape Peninsula to Knysna
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
HAINES, R.W. & LYE, K.A. 1976. Studies in African Cyperaceae XIV. The genus Hellmuthia Steud. Botaniska Notiser 129
LEVYNS, M.R. 1950. Cyperaceae. In R.S. Adamson & T.M. Salter, Flora of the Cape Peninsula. Juta, Cape Town
SCHONLAND, S. 1922. Introduction to South African Cyperaceae. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa No. 3
STEUDEL, E.G. 1855. Synopsis plantarum glumacearum. 2. Cyperaceae. [Synopsis plantarum Cyperacearum.] J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart
THUNBERG, C.P. 1794. Prodromus plantarum capensium. Edman, Uppsala.
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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