Citation: Roemer & Schultes, Syst. Veg. 2:106 (1817).

Synonymy: Scirpus cernuus Vahl, Enum. Pl. 2:245 (1805/6); I. riparia R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 222 (1810); S. riparius (R. Br.) Poiret, Encvcl. Suppl. 5:103 (1817); S. arenarius sensu Benth., Fl. Aust. 7:325 (1878), non Boeckeler.

Common name: Nodding club-rush.

Description:
Small tufted plant, rarely more than 10 cm high and often much less, sometimes with a short slender rhizome; stems setaceous, erect or more or less curved, usually rigid; leaves usually reduced to a small point, rarely longer and setaceous; involucral bract 1, as though a continuation of the stem but somewhat glume-like at the base, mostly 3-7 mm long, shorter or longer than the spikelet.

Spikelet nearly always solitary, oblique, broadly ovoid, 2.5-3 mm long, usually chestnut and more or less shining, not angular; glumes tightly appressed, suborbicular, concave and indistinctly keeled; stamens 3; style branches 3.

Nut orbicular in outline, c. 0.9 x 0.7 mm, trigonous, the dorsal angle faint or absent so that the nut is plano-convex, brown, finely reticulate and somewhat granular in longitudinal lines of a transparent glistening layer, about half as long as the glume.

Distribution:  Grows in damp places, especially near the sea. S.Aust.: LE, FR, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE.   All States except the N.T.   Occurs in most parts of the world. Conservation status: native Flowering time: throughout the year, especially early summer.

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

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available