Herbs, perennial, dioecious, rhizomatous, forming dense tangled masses arising from a glabrous caespitose base. Culms branched, trailing, forming tangled masses, glabrous. Sheaths many, persistent, appressed, apex obtuse to truncate; lamina narrow-linear, short, patent or reflexed. Spikelets with 2 glumes and a solitary flower. Male spikelets singly or in pairs in the axils, and when two in each axil then one shortly pedicellate, the other ± sessile, cylindrical or narrowly ovoid; glumes acute. Female spikelets solitary, in upper axils or terminal; glumes membranous, ovate-lanceolate, acute, sometimes with a short awn. Male flowers: tepals 6, lanceolate, acute, rigid, pale brown, smooth, glabrous; inner tepals longer; stamens 3; anthers exserted; pistillode present. Female flowers: tepals 6, similar to males, staminodes 3, ovary 3-locular but only 1 loculus developing to maturity; styles 3, free, wholly stigmatic. Fruit a globular nut with woody pericarp, longitudinally ridged. Seed ellipsoid, smooth. Culm anatomy: chlorenchyma of horizontal plates of 2 or 3 ranks of short cells, pillar cells absent, substomatal protective cells present, central cavity absent.
More
Plants dioec., rarely monoec. Spikelets distant towards the ends of the branches, at each node solitary and sessile, or in pairs with one sessile, the other shortly stalked. Male spikelets 1–6-fld (in the N.Z. sp.), female spikelets 1-fld; upper floral bracts imbricate; bractlets wanting. ♂ with 6 narrow, glume-like tepals; stamens 3, anthers 1-celled. ♀ with 6–(4) hyaline tepals; staminodia 3 or 0; styles 3 or 2, free, or connate at the base; ovary 1-locular with a single, pend. ovule. Fr. a small, ovoid or obovoid, ind. nut. Perennial herbs. Culms glab., much-branched, often flexuose, from a creeping rhizome. Lvs reduced to persistent, bract-like sheaths. Genus of 3 spp. 2 endemic to Australia, and C. minor occurs in both Australia and N.Z. Type sp.: C. elongata Labill., a Tasmanian endemic.
Home
