| Monocotyledon | Literature for Schoenoplectus californicus
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999. |
| Cyperaceae -- The Sedge Family | Bibliography |
| Schoenoplectus californicus | |
Common name(s): `aka`akai (Ni`ihau), kaluha |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to coastal areas of southern United States (south of South Carolina and California) south to Argentina and Chile in salt or freshwater marshes at low elevations.In the Hawaiian Islands, indigenous to Ni`ihau, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i. | |
| Habit |
Perennials with coarse, creeping rhizomes up to 2 cm in diameter, clothed with dark brown scales; culms arising in a row along the rhizome, trigonous at least in apical part, the lower part obtusely trigonous or subterete, green, glaucous, smooth or occasionally weakly roughened, 90-380 cm tall, 1-2.5 cm in diameter below. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves reduced to 3-4 bladeless sheaths; basal sheaths dark brown, the abaxial side split into pinnate fibers. |
|
| Flowers |
Inflorescences dense, anthelate, compound or partially decompound, recurved or nodding, rays 4-10, the primary ones 2-20 cm long, each with 1-4 spikelets on ultimate rays; involucral bracts 2-3, the lowest one erect, subulate, 2-8 cm long; spikelets rusty or dark brown, ovoid-ellipsoid to cylindrical, 5-10 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide, acute; glumes brown or pale brown, ovate, 2.5-2.8 mm long, 1.7-2 mm wide, flecked with reddish brown resinous spots, the broad hyaline margins subentire, the midnerve prolonged into a mucro 1-2 mm long; bristles 2-4, reddish brown, plumose; stigmas 2. |
|
| Fruit |
Achenes dark brown, smooth, broadly obovate-elliptic, lenticular, 1.8-2 mm long, 1.2-1.4 mm wide, apiculate. |
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| Chromosomes |
2n = 64, 68 |
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