''Carex haematostoma'', also known as hong zui tai cao in China, 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 central Asia and

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 ...

Description

The sedge has a spreading woody

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 ...

with smooth and tufted culms that are in height and are surrounded at the base with pale brown coloured sheaths that disintegrateinto fibers with age. The flat grey-green coloured leaves have a linear shape and are shorter than the culms and have a width of and have a small spike at the end. The inflorescence is composed of four to eight spike of which two to four are male. The have a cylindrical to club shape and are the in length. The female spikes are more cylindrical and are long.

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'' written by Robert Wight. The type specimen was collected in India by Duthie et al.

Distribution

The plant is native to the temperate region of Central Asia with a range extending from Kazakhstan in the north west through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the south west. The range extends east through the Himalayas including Nepal and Tibet and into southern and central parts of

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15227141 haematostoma Plants described in 1834 Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck Flora of Pakistan Flora of China Flora of Afghanistan Flora of Kazakhstan Flora of Kyrgyzstan Flora of Nepal Flora of Tajikistan Flora of Uzbekistan Flora of Tibet