Citation: Nees in Lehm., Pl. Preiss 2:73 (1846).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Black bristle-rush.

Description:
Stems slender but wiry, c. 1 mm thick, c. 30 cm high, from a creeping rhizome; leaves basal, the inner stem-like, the outer reduced to sheathing bases.

Inflorescence a dense globular reddish-black head 10-12 mm diam., with a long slender stiff erect involucral bract; spikelets obconical, c. 3.5 mm long; the male flowers 10-12, each enclosed in a reddish 3-toothed ciliate glume.

Nut obovoid-cuneate, almost globular, 2-2.5 x c. 1.3 mm, muricate and minutely pubescent between the longitudinal ribs, light-brown, dull.

Distribution:  Grows in wet places. S.Aust.: EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE.   All States except the N.T. and Qld. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Aug. — Nov. and April — May.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: A second undescribed species, also in Vic. and Tas., in some ways resembling C. cymbaria R. Br. has been collected in the SE near Kingston and Glencoe. The stems are 3-6 mm thick but hollow and easily compressed and up to 1 m or more high. It grows in wet places and flowers have been recorded in March and Oct.

Author: Not yet available