Click on images
to enlarge

Bulbostylis barbata

Family

Cyperaceae

Botanical Name

Bulbostylis barbata (Rottb.) C.B.Clarke

Clarke, C.B. in Hooker, J.D. (1894) The Flora of British India 6: 651. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Scirpus barbatus Rottb., Descriptiones Plantarum Rariorum: 27(1772), Type: ?.

Common name

Watergrass

Stem

Tufted sedge with glabrous stems 5-30 cm tall.

Leaves

Leaves shorter than the stems and curve downwards; leaf sheath with long white hairs; lamina longitudinally ridged.

Flowers

Inflorescence capitate, with 3-20 spikelets, 5-15 mm across; involucral bracts 2-3, filiform, basal bract erect; spikelets sessile ovate to oblong; glumes reddish brown, strongly keeled;, keels on glomes greenish, margins of glumes toothed in the upper half, mucro on glumes curved outwards; stigma shorter than the style.

Fruit

Seed triquetrous, obovate in outline, very smooth and white to cream coloured, 0.5-0.75 mm long.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ and CQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 580 m. Grows in sclerophyll forest, open forest, deciduous vine thicket, riverbeds, dune scrub and woodland. Widely distributed over the warm parts of the Old World, also in USA.