''Bulbostylis capillaris'' is a species of

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

known by the common names densetuft hairsedge and threadleaf beakseed. It is native to much of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> ''Bulbostylis capillaris'' grows in many types of habitat, generally in moist areas such as streamside meadows. It is an annual herb which is somewhat variable in appearance but generally takes the form of a small, upright tuft of green herbage growing close to the ground, between 10 and 24 centimeters tall. There are several stems surrounded by thready, thin leaves. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

occurs at the tip of the stem and is composed of tiny spikelets which are green washed with rusty red. The fruit is about a millimeter long.

Uses

Along with ''

Piptochaetium montevidense ''Piptochaetium'', or speargrass, is a genus of plants in the grass family, native to North and South America. ''Piptochaetium'' is a bunchgrass genus in the tribe Stipeae.Clayton, W. D., et al. (2006 onwards)''Piptochaetium''.GrassBase - The Onl ...

'' and ''

Juncus capillacaeus ''Juncus'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants, commonly known as rushes. It is the largest genus in the family Juncaceae, containing around 300 species. Description Rushes of the genus ''Juncus'' are herbaceous plants that superfici ...

'', ''Bulbostylis capillaris'' is used in

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

as a medicinal plant in the form of a

tisane Herbal teas, also known as herbal infusions and less commonly called tisanes (UK and US , US also ), are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, or other plant material in hot water. Oftentimes herb tea, or the plain term ...

to treat

urinary tract infections A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection that affects part of the urinary tract. When it affects the lower urinary tract it is known as a bladder infection (cystitis) and when it affects the upper urinary tract it is known as a kidney ...

(UTIs). This claim of antimicrobial activity against two common causes of UTIs, ''

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

'' and ''

Klebsiella pneumoniae ''Klebsiella pneumoniae'' is a Gram-negative, non-motile, encapsulated, lactose-fermenting, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium. It appears as a mucoid lactose fermenter on MacConkey agar. Although found in the normal flora of the mouth ...

'', was investigated by Vogel et al. (2011) but found no evidence of effectiveness in treating bacterial infections.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
capillaris Flora of Northern America Flora of Southern America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Cyperaceae-stub