Volume 6 > Part 4 > Year 1998 > Page 311 > Cyperaceae > Fimbristylis

24. Fimbristylis miliacea (L.) Vahlwfo-0000421947

En. Pl. 2: 287. 1806; C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Br. Ind. 6: 644. 1893; Camus in Fl. Gén. I.-C. 7: 115. 1912; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 5: 158. 1925; J.Kern, Reinwardtia 6: 40. 1961; Raymond, Dansk Bot. Ark. 23: 317. 1966; T.Koyama, Bot. Mag. Tokyo 87: 316. 1974; Hô, Câyco Viêtnam III. 2: 646. 1993.— Scirpus miliaceus L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 868. 1759.

Accepted Name : Fimbristylis quinquangularis subsp. quinquangularis

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Annual or short-lived perennial. Culms arising from leaf axils, several, 10–60(–90) cm by 1–3 mm, 4-sided, smooth. Leaves basal, or cauline reduced to bladeless sheaths; blade linear, 10–50 cm by 1–4 mm, subacute, bilaterally flattened; basal sheaths 1–18 cm long, open, cauline sheaths tubular, 2–10 cm long; ligule 0. Involucral bracts 2–4, setaceous, the longest 1–3 cm long. Inflorescence compound to decompound, open, 3–10 by 3–10 cm; primary branches 3–7, 1–7 cm long. Spikelets many per inflorescence, ovoid-globose to globose, 1.5–3(–5) by 1–2.1 mm. Glumes many per spikelet, spirally arranged, broadly ovate, 1–1.2 by 0.6–0.8 mm, obtuse, sides membranous, reddish brown, margins broadly hyaline, keel obtuse, yellowish, obscurely 3-nerved. Stamens 1(–2); anthers 0.6 mm long. Stigmas 3. Nutlets obovoid, trigonous, 0.6–0.8 by 0.3–0.5 mm, creamy yellow, sparsely verruculose especially on angles, cancellate with 5–7 longitudinal rows of transversely linear-oblong cells.

Thailand : Common throughout the country.

Distribution : Tropical and subtropical regions worldwide (India – type).

Ecology : Common weed of rice fields and wet places, low to medium altitudes.

Vernacular : Ya rat khiat (หญ้ารัดเขียด)(Northern); nuat pla duk (หนวดปลาดุก)(Peninsular).

Notes: This species is a common rice field weed and is superficially similar to Fimbristylis aphylla with ovoid to globose spikelets. However, it has basal leaves which are dorsiventrally flattened and glumes less than 1 mm wide.