Kyllinga odorata

Plants perennial, densely cespitose, rhizomatous. Culms (5-)10-25(-45) cm, smooth. Leaves flat to slightly folded, (6-)10-20(-30) cm × 2-3(-4) mm. Inflorescences: spikes 1-3(-4), whitish, ovoid to ellipsoid, 6-12(-18) × 4-8 mm; bracts (2-)3-4, horizontal, flat, (2-)3-4, 1-7(-9) cm × (0.5-)1-3(-4.5) mm. Spikelets (50-)75-150, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, (1.8-) 2.3-2.8(-3) × 1-1.3 mm; floral scales whitish, laterally 2-3-veined, broadly ovate, 2-2.5 × (1.3-)1.8-2.6 mm; stamens 2; anthers (0.4-)0.6-0.8(-1) mm; style 0.6-1 mm; stigmas 0.3-0.6 mm. Achenes reddish brown to dark brown, broadly ellipsoid, 1.2-1.5 × 0.7-0.8(-0.9) mm, base whitish, stipe to 0.1 mm, apex obtuse, apiculate, puncticulate.

Fruiting summer. Damp grasslands; 0-200 m; Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.Mex., N.C., Okla., S.C., Tex.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Australia.

Another widespread tropical sp. of the subg. Kyllinga, extends on the coastal plain to n. N.C. and may be sought in se. Va. It is a mat-forming, aromatic perennial with conspicuously white spikelets, and with the achenes more than half as wide as long, purple-black except for the ochroleucous apiculus and short stipe.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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