Scleria lithosperma (L.) Sw.

Florida keys nutrush (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Poales > Cyperaceae > Scleria

Characteristics

Plants perennial; rhizomes short, nodulose, aromatic when fresh. Culms in tufts, slender, 30–90(–115) cm, glabrous or slightly scabrous. Leaves: sheaths purplish, wingless, weakly ribbed, finely pilose or nearly glabrous; contra-ligules reddish, triangular, rigid, distinctly ciliate; blades distinctly grayish green and revolute when dry, linear, attenuate, keeled, 1–3(–5) mm wide, shorter than culms. Inflorescences: axillary 1–3, terminal 1, quite lax; stalked spikes or panicles 2–4, terminal one 3–4.5(–8.5) cm with 2–7 open fascicles 2–6(–9) mm wide, of 1–4 spikelets; bracts subtending and overtopping inflorescence leaflike, broadly attenuate, scabrous. Spikelets bisexual (an occasional terminal staminate spikelet), few flowered, 3–5 mm; staminate scales lanceolate, pistillate scales ovate-acuminate, with prominent green keel. Achenes whitish or gray between angles, obscurely trigonous, ovoid or globose, 2–2.5(–3) mm, smooth, base broadly attenuate, somewhat depressed between angles, trigonous, not porose, apex umbonate; hypogynium obsolete, reduced to distinct brown band at base of achene.
More
Perennials. Rhizomes short, thick, woody, creeping. Culms tufted, 30-50 cm tall, 1.4-2 mm wide, 3-angled, glabrous. Leaves basal and cauline. Basal leaves sheathlike, bladeless. Cauline leaves with sheath 3-angled, closed, pilose; contraligule depressed rounded or depressed deltoid, ciliate; leaf blade narrowly linear, 1.5-2 mm wide, margins finely serrate, apex attenuate into a caudate tip. Involucral bracts leaflike, basal one to 10 cm, sheathing. Inflorescences paniculate, well-developed ones more than 30 cm, with 1-3 lateral branches or without branch at basal part; basal part often reduced to spikelike, 3.5-7 cm. Spikelets 1-3 in a cluster, 3-4.5 mm, with 4 or 5 glumes, with 1 or 2 male flowers and 1 female flower below male ones. Glumes ovate-lanceolate, keeled, both sides of midvein membranous with short brown lines, apex mucronate. Disk not well developed. Nutlet white, broadly obovoid to subellipsoid, ca. 2.5 mm, 3-sided or not, smooth or transversely rugose or irregularly ± reticulate with wavy ridges, shiny, base narrow and triangular. Fl. and fr. Jun-Oct.
Plants glabrous or nearly so, with stout rootstocks, the culms'-3-9 din. long; leaves 10-30 cm. long, 1-3 mm. wide; inflorescence sparsely branched, the spikelets in distant sessile clusters; hypogynium none; achene 3 mm. long, white, smooth, shining, oblong or ovate-elliptic, subacuminate, the attenuate trigonous base non-porose.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.23 - 0.38
Root system rhizome
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c4

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Nephritis (unspecified), Parturition (unspecified), Stomach (unspecified), Cough (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Scleria lithosperma world distribution map, present in Angola, Andorra, Benin, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, China, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Moldova (Republic of), Madagascar, Myanmar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Togo, Thailand, Tonga, Taiwan, Province of China, Tanzania, United Republic of, United States of America, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Wallis and Futuna, Samoa, and Zambia

Conservation status

Scleria lithosperma threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1034196-2
WFO ID wfo-0000551231
COL ID 79XR8
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 630624
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Scleria lithosperma Scleria wightiana Scleria pauciflora Scirpus lithospermus Scleria lithosperma f. ramosa Carex lithosperma Hypoporum lithospermum Carex tenuis Hypoporum sieberi Hypoporum purpurascens

Lower taxons

Scleria lithosperma var. linearis Scleria lithosperma var. lithosperma