Cyperaceae taxon details
Costularia xipholepis (Baker) Henriette & Senterre
1679156 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:1679156)
accepted
Species
Cladium xipholepis Baker · unaccepted
Schoenus xipholepis (Baker) Summerh. · unaccepted
terrestrial
(of Cladium xipholepis Baker) Baker, J. G. (1877). Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles: a description of the flowering plants and ferns of those islands. pp. 1-557., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.139960
page(s): 424 [details]
page(s): 424 [details]
Holotype K, geounit Seychelles
Holotype K, geounit Seychelles [details]
Description Perennial herb up to 2.5 m tall, caespitose, forming dense clumps. Culm c. 80 cm × 3.5–5 mm, cylindrical, robust. Basal...
Distribution Costularia xipholepis is endemic to the Seychelles and restricted to Mahé and has been found in three locations all...
Taxonomic remark Source in seed data: ipni Update namepublishedIn from Phytotaxa 231(1): 34. 2015 [15 Oct 2015] [epublished] to Phytotaxa...
Description Perennial herb up to 2.5 m tall, caespitose, forming dense clumps. Culm c. 80 cm × 3.5–5 mm, cylindrical, robust. Basal leaves distichously arranged, densely set, numerous; dead leaves persistent, the older ones abscising above the leaf sheath; green leaves 7–12 on each side, arcuate; leaf-sheath 4–6 × 2.9–4 cm, semi-cylindrical, thick, yellowish, margins dark red, ciliate distally; leaf blade 75–123 cm × 7–10 mm, not pseudopetiolate, linear, gradually tapering towards apex, upwardly concave in section, coriaceous, glabrous, smooth, mid-green, margin entire, with tiny ascendant prickles, apex acute, slightly rounded, not apiculate, midrib not distinct, longitudinally striate. Cauline leaves 3–5; leaf-sheath 4.5–5.2 × 1.2–1.5 cm, closed, dark red at base, yellowish distally; leaf-blade shorter than in basal leaves, decreasing in length towards the apex of the culm, 40–74 cm × 8–10 mm. Inflorescence 55–140 cm, narrow (7–15 cm wide), with four to five orders of branching; inflorescence bracts 9–14, up to 17–27 cm long at basal nodes, 2.5–3.0 cm long at distal nodes. Peduncles unequal (longer in basal fertile nodes), 15–360 mm long, one to seven per node, erect, compressed, slender, smooth. Pedicels of the spikelets 7.5–8.0 mm long, straight. Spikelets densely clustered, 7–8 × 1.0–1.2 mm, lanceolate, reddish-brown; rachilla persistent, straight. Glumes 7–9, distichous, completely enclosing the rachilla at base, deciduous, lanceolate, smooth, reddish-brown on the sides and towards apex, margins glabrous, apices with a straight awn (longer in basal glume), midrib distinct; basal empty glumes 5–7, the lowest glume 2.5–3.7 × 1.0–1.5 mm, subsequent glumes 3.3–6.8 × 1.4–2.0 mm; lower fertile glume 6.0–6.5 mm long, slightly shorter than the last empty glume; upper fertile glume 6.1–6.5 mm long, enclosed in the previous glume. Flowers 2, lower male, upper bisexual. Perianth bristles 6, well developed, 5.5–7.3 mm long, two to three times longer than the nutlet (beak included), sparsely plumose. Stamens 3, 5.0–7.6 mm long, not protruding or slightly protruding; anthers oblong, 1.7–4.2 mm long, yellow. Style trifid, 7.5–10.3 mm long (including stigmas). Nutlet stalked at maturity, trigonous, wingless, obovoid, two mm long (excluding beak), 0.8–0.9 mm diam., golden brown, beak with a constriction at the junction with the nutlet, 1.5 mm long, long-acute, 0.4 mm wide at base, ciliate. [details]
Distribution Costularia xipholepis is endemic to the Seychelles and restricted to Mahé and has been found in three locations all...
Distribution Costularia xipholepis is endemic to the Seychelles and restricted to Mahé and has been found in three locations all situated in the Morne Seychellois National Park: Congo Rouge (B. Senterre & T. Stévart, observation record, 20 July 2014, 4.6512°S, 55.44126°E, 610 m), Copolia and Pérard. Two additional locations were recently discovered at Mont Sébert and at Glacis Sarcelles (B. Senterre, 2018, personal communication). [details]
Taxonomic remark Source in seed data: ipni Update namepublishedIn from Phytotaxa 231(1): 34. 2015 [15 Oct 2015] [epublished] to Phytotaxa...
Taxonomic remark Source in seed data: ipni Update namepublishedIn from Phytotaxa 231(1): 34. 2015 [15 Oct 2015] [epublished] to Phytotaxa 231: 34 (2015), information provided by Alan E. on email Jun. 07 2021 [details]
Cyperaceae Working Group. (2025). [see How to cite]. Global Cyperaceae Database. Costularia xipholepis (Baker) Henriette & Senterre. Accessed at: https://cyperaceae.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1679156 on 2025-04-20
The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 License
Nomenclature
original description
(of Cladium xipholepis Baker) Baker, J. G. (1877). Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles: a description of the flowering plants and ferns of those islands. pp. 1-557., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.139960
page(s): 424 [details]
basis of record Plants of the World Online (POWO). , available online at https://powo.science.kew.org/ [details]
new combination reference Henriette, E.; Larridon, I.; Morel, C.; Goetghebeur, P.; Senterre, B. (2015). Revision of the genus Costularia (Cyperaceae: Schoeneae) for the flora of the Seychelles, including the rediscovery and resurrection of a rare endemic species. <em>Phytotaxa.</em> 231(1): 31., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.231.1.3
page(s): 34 [details] Available for editors
[request]
page(s): 424 [details]
basis of record Plants of the World Online (POWO). , available online at https://powo.science.kew.org/ [details]
new combination reference Henriette, E.; Larridon, I.; Morel, C.; Goetghebeur, P.; Senterre, B. (2015). Revision of the genus Costularia (Cyperaceae: Schoeneae) for the flora of the Seychelles, including the rediscovery and resurrection of a rare endemic species. <em>Phytotaxa.</em> 231(1): 31., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.231.1.3
page(s): 34 [details] Available for editors
[request]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Holotype K, geounit Seychelles [details]
From editor or global species database
Description Perennial herb up to 2.5 m tall, caespitose, forming dense clumps. Culm c. 80 cm × 3.5–5 mm, cylindrical, robust. Basal leaves distichously arranged, densely set, numerous; dead leaves persistent, the older ones abscising above the leaf sheath; green leaves 7–12 on each side, arcuate; leaf-sheath 4–6 × 2.9–4 cm, semi-cylindrical, thick, yellowish, margins dark red, ciliate distally; leaf blade 75–123 cm × 7–10 mm, not pseudopetiolate, linear, gradually tapering towards apex, upwardly concave in section, coriaceous, glabrous, smooth, mid-green, margin entire, with tiny ascendant prickles, apex acute, slightly rounded, not apiculate, midrib not distinct, longitudinally striate. Cauline leaves 3–5; leaf-sheath 4.5–5.2 × 1.2–1.5 cm, closed, dark red at base, yellowish distally; leaf-blade shorter than in basal leaves, decreasing in length towards the apex of the culm, 40–74 cm × 8–10 mm. Inflorescence 55–140 cm, narrow (7–15 cm wide), with four to five orders of branching; inflorescence bracts 9–14, up to 17–27 cm long at basal nodes, 2.5–3.0 cm long at distal nodes. Peduncles unequal (longer in basal fertile nodes), 15–360 mm long, one to seven per node, erect, compressed, slender, smooth. Pedicels of the spikelets 7.5–8.0 mm long, straight. Spikelets densely clustered, 7–8 × 1.0–1.2 mm, lanceolate, reddish-brown; rachilla persistent, straight. Glumes 7–9, distichous, completely enclosing the rachilla at base, deciduous, lanceolate, smooth, reddish-brown on the sides and towards apex, margins glabrous, apices with a straight awn (longer in basal glume), midrib distinct; basal empty glumes 5–7, the lowest glume 2.5–3.7 × 1.0–1.5 mm, subsequent glumes 3.3–6.8 × 1.4–2.0 mm; lower fertile glume 6.0–6.5 mm long, slightly shorter than the last empty glume; upper fertile glume 6.1–6.5 mm long, enclosed in the previous glume. Flowers 2, lower male, upper bisexual. Perianth bristles 6, well developed, 5.5–7.3 mm long, two to three times longer than the nutlet (beak included), sparsely plumose. Stamens 3, 5.0–7.6 mm long, not protruding or slightly protruding; anthers oblong, 1.7–4.2 mm long, yellow. Style trifid, 7.5–10.3 mm long (including stigmas). Nutlet stalked at maturity, trigonous, wingless, obovoid, two mm long (excluding beak), 0.8–0.9 mm diam., golden brown, beak with a constriction at the junction with the nutlet, 1.5 mm long, long-acute, 0.4 mm wide at base, ciliate. [details]Distribution Costularia xipholepis is endemic to the Seychelles and restricted to Mahé and has been found in three locations all situated in the Morne Seychellois National Park: Congo Rouge (B. Senterre & T. Stévart, observation record, 20 July 2014, 4.6512°S, 55.44126°E, 610 m), Copolia and Pérard. Two additional locations were recently discovered at Mont Sébert and at Glacis Sarcelles (B. Senterre, 2018, personal communication). [details]
Ecology This species is restricted to the herbaceous fringe of lower montane inselbergs. It has been observed from 500 to 821 m but was more abundant on the site at the higher elevation, which corresponds to an altitudinal belt named the tree fern lower montane belt. At Copolia, it has a patchier distribution, growing on rock crevices and along fissures where the soil is damp. In all sites, it grows in association with the species previously known as Costularia hornei (basionym S. hornei, nom. cons.); which is now placed in the genus Xyroschoenus. Since the exclusion of X. hornei from Costularia, only one species of Costularia is known to occur on the Seychelles.
Flowering/fruiting specimens were collected between March and December. [details]
Taxonomic remark Source in seed data: ipni Update namepublishedIn from Phytotaxa 231(1): 34. 2015 [15 Oct 2015] [epublished] to Phytotaxa 231: 34 (2015), information provided by Alan E. on email Jun. 07 2021 [details]
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (1 publication)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (1 publication) (from synonym Schoenus xipholepis (Baker) Summerh.)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (3 publications) (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Costularia xipholepis)
To GenBank (8 nucleotides; 0 proteins)
To GenBank (8 nucleotides; 0 proteins) (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI) (from synonym Schoenus xipholepis (Baker) Summerh.)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI) (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI)
To IUCN Red List (Endangered)
To Plants of the World Online
To Plants of the World Online (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To Plants of the World Online (from synonym Schoenus xipholepis (Baker) Summerh.)
To Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Costularia xipholepis K000662805 holotype 1)
To the Natural History Museum, London (Costularia xipholepis (Baker) Henriette & Senterre BM014605549 type 1)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (1 publication) (from synonym Schoenus xipholepis (Baker) Summerh.)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (3 publications) (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Costularia xipholepis)
To GenBank (8 nucleotides; 0 proteins)
To GenBank (8 nucleotides; 0 proteins) (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI) (from synonym Schoenus xipholepis (Baker) Summerh.)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI) (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To International Plant Names Index (IPNI)
To IUCN Red List (Endangered)
To Plants of the World Online
To Plants of the World Online (from synonym Cladium xipholepis Baker)
To Plants of the World Online (from synonym Schoenus xipholepis (Baker) Summerh.)
To Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Costularia xipholepis K000662805 holotype 1)
To the Natural History Museum, London (Costularia xipholepis (Baker) Henriette & Senterre BM014605549 type 1)
