Cyperaceae taxon details
Asterochaete borbonica (Steud.) X.F.Zhang
1776086 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:1776086)
accepted
Species
Asterochaete Nees accepted as Carpha Banks & Sol. ex R.Br.
recent only
(of Elynanthus borbonicus Steud.) Steudel, E. G. (1855). Synopsis Plantarum Glumacearum. II. Cyperaceae. Metzler. Stuttgart. 246 pp., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44896084#page/8/mode/1up
page(s): 155 [details]
page(s): 155 [details]
Description Erect perennial, 30–50 cm high; rhizome short, slender. Culms 1–2-noded, each node bearing a single leaf. Leaves...
Description Erect perennial, 30–50 cm high; rhizome short, slender. Culms 1–2-noded, each node bearing a single leaf. Leaves crowded at the base of the culms; blades straight, up to 20 cm long, 0.4–0.7 mm in diameter, nearly filiform, thickly U-shaped to rigidly crescentiform in cross-section, not or scarcely keeled except near apex; sheaths pale yellow-brown above, dark brown towards base. Inflorescence 1.5–11 cm long, usually with 3 short internodes; spikelets 15–30 in 1–3 dense oblong clusters. Involucral bracts several, up to 17 cm long, shorter than to slightly exceeding the inflorescence, up to 0.7 mm wide. Spikelets 5.0–6.0 mm long, with 1 or 2 bisexual flowers; glumes 5 or 6, pale yellow-brown to dark yellow-brown or red-brown; lowest 3 or 4 glumes empty, persistent, the upper 2 fertile, deciduous, or the uppermost one sterile; the lowest 2 or 3 glumes shorter than the rest; the proximal fertile glume 4.5–5.0 mm long, 1.3–1.5 mm wide, the second fertile glume approximately 4.5 mm long, about 1 mm wide; axis elongated above proximal fertile glume and adnate to the base of that glume. Bristles: outer 3 bristles shorter than or rarely subequal to inner 3 (often less than half of the length of the fruit), the inner 3 bristles 1.8–2.5 mm long, slightly shorter than to slightly exceeding the body of the nutlet. Anthers greyish, 1.3–1.5 mm long (excluding appendage), with apical appendage approximately 0.1 mm long and 0.1 mm wide. Style base about 0.6 mm long, approximately 0.15 mm in diameter, very shortly hispidulous to verruculose. Nutlets 1 or 2 per spikelet, ellipsoid, 1.7–2.0 mm long, 0.7–0.8 mm in diameter, brown at maturity, surface regularly reticulate. [details]
Cyperaceae Working Group. (2026). [see How to cite]. Global Cyperaceae Database. Asterochaete borbonica (Steud.) X.F.Zhang. Accessed at: https://www.cyperaceae.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1776086 on 2026-09-01
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Nomenclature
original description
(of Elynanthus borbonicus Steud.) Steudel, E. G. (1855). Synopsis Plantarum Glumacearum. II. Cyperaceae. Metzler. Stuttgart. 246 pp., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44896084#page/8/mode/1up
page(s): 155 [details]
new combination reference Bruhl, J. J.; Wilson, K. L.; Zhang, X. (2024). A taxonomic review of the austral genera Asterochaete and Carpha (Cyperaceae, Carpheae). <em>Australian Systematic Botany.</em> 37(3)., available online at https://doi.org/10.1071/sb23015
page(s): 17 [details]
page(s): 155 [details]
new combination reference Bruhl, J. J.; Wilson, K. L.; Zhang, X. (2024). A taxonomic review of the austral genera Asterochaete and Carpha (Cyperaceae, Carpheae). <em>Australian Systematic Botany.</em> 37(3)., available online at https://doi.org/10.1071/sb23015
page(s): 17 [details]
From editor or global species database
Description Erect perennial, 30–50 cm high; rhizome short, slender. Culms 1–2-noded, each node bearing a single leaf. Leaves crowded at the base of the culms; blades straight, up to 20 cm long, 0.4–0.7 mm in diameter, nearly filiform, thickly U-shaped to rigidly crescentiform in cross-section, not or scarcely keeled except near apex; sheaths pale yellow-brown above, dark brown towards base. Inflorescence 1.5–11 cm long, usually with 3 short internodes; spikelets 15–30 in 1–3 dense oblong clusters. Involucral bracts several, up to 17 cm long, shorter than to slightly exceeding the inflorescence, up to 0.7 mm wide. Spikelets 5.0–6.0 mm long, with 1 or 2 bisexual flowers; glumes 5 or 6, pale yellow-brown to dark yellow-brown or red-brown; lowest 3 or 4 glumes empty, persistent, the upper 2 fertile, deciduous, or the uppermost one sterile; the lowest 2 or 3 glumes shorter than the rest; the proximal fertile glume 4.5–5.0 mm long, 1.3–1.5 mm wide, the second fertile glume approximately 4.5 mm long, about 1 mm wide; axis elongated above proximal fertile glume and adnate to the base of that glume. Bristles: outer 3 bristles shorter than or rarely subequal to inner 3 (often less than half of the length of the fruit), the inner 3 bristles 1.8–2.5 mm long, slightly shorter than to slightly exceeding the body of the nutlet. Anthers greyish, 1.3–1.5 mm long (excluding appendage), with apical appendage approximately 0.1 mm long and 0.1 mm wide. Style base about 0.6 mm long, approximately 0.15 mm in diameter, very shortly hispidulous to verruculose. Nutlets 1 or 2 per spikelet, ellipsoid, 1.7–2.0 mm long, 0.7–0.8 mm in diameter, brown at maturity, surface regularly reticulate. [details]
