Japanese name: ヒメクグ Scientific name:Cyperus brevifolius var. leiolepis
[Overview]
A perennial seen along roadsides and in fields on flat land, preferring sunny, moist places.
The rhizome is tinged with purple and extends long and horizontally, sparsely sending up flowering stems at each node.
The leaves are flat and linear, 0.2–0.4 cm wide, soft in texture, and borne at the base of the stem.
The flowering stem is 10–30 cm tall and triangular in cross section.
At the tip of the flowering stem there is usually a single green inflorescence, 0.5–1.2 cm across, formed as a ball of densely clustered stalkless spikelets.
At the base of the inflorescence there are about 3 long leaf-like bracts.
Each spikelet consists of only one floret; it is pale green, oblong and flattened from the sides, with the keel facing the axis.
The stigma is divided into 2.
The spikelet has 4 scales, 2 large and 2 small.
The scales are pale green and membranous with fine veins; the keel is smooth and the tip is not recurved.
The fruit ripens to brown and falls off from the base.
