''Carex cruenta'' is a

tussock Tussock may refer to: * Tussock grass, a group of species in the family Poaceae *Floating island * Lymantriinae, called tussock moths or tussocks See also * Hassock (disambiguation) Hassock may refer to: * Kneeler, a cushion or a piece of f ...

-forming species of perennial sedge in the family

Cyperaceae 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'' w ...

. It is native to parts of Asia, from Pakistan in the west to south central parts of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the east.

Description

The tall sedge has a creeping

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

covered in grey-brown fibrous scales. The erect culms are in length ith a triangular cross-section and covered by brown coloured sheaths near the base. The flat and linear leaves of the plant are always shorter than culms and are in width.

Taxonomy

The species was described by the botanist Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck in 1834 as a part of the work ''Contributions to the Botany of India''. The type specimen was collected by

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich FRS FRSE (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British ...

in an area of alpine meadow in the Kumaon division of Uttar Pradesh in India. It has one

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

; ''Carex heterolepis'' as described by

Johann Otto Boeckeler Johann Otto Boeckeler (12 August 18035 March 1899) was a German apothecary- botanist of Oldenburg. He specialized in the plant family Cyperaceae (sedges), of which, he was the binomial authority of many species. He is commemorated with the genus ...

in 1888.

Distribution

The range of the plant extends from northern parts of Pakistan in the west through the Himalayas including Nepal and Tibet and into southern parts of central China. It is found in subalpine or subarctic environments.

References

cruenta Plants described in 1834 Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck Flora of Pakistan Flora of China Flora of Nepal Flora of Tibet {{Carex-stub