Abildgaardia ovata (Burm.f.) Kral

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Cyperaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Abildgaardia ovata (Burm.f.) Kral

  • Description

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    Species Description - Tufted perennial, 10-50 cm tall; rhizomes short, knotty; roots filiform; culms obtusely angled, 0.6-0.8 mm wide, 6-10-ribbed, glabrous, light green to straw-colored, smooth or upwardly scabrous near subflattened apex. Leaves several; blades 3-30 cm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, flat to somewhat inrolled, prominently veined on upper surface, light green to straw-colored, glabrous, scabrous on margins, abruptly acuminate at tip; sheaths glabrous, prominently veined on upper surface, ventral band open at summit, prolonged on either side into an auricle. Inflorescence of l(-2) spikelets at summit of culm, ascending, subtended by a single involucral bract; rays when present, short, ribbed; spikelets ovate, 9-14 x 4-6 mm; scales ovate, 4-6 mm long, about as broad as long, glabrous, light green to straw-colored, keeled, with prominent midrib, mucronate at apex. Stamens 3, the anthers 1.5-2.5 mm long; style branches minutely fimbriate-scaly, one-fourth to one-third the length of the unbranched portion. Achene obscurely 3-angled, obovoid, 2.0-3.0 x 1.5-2.0 mm , stipitate at base, rounded to truncate at apex, apiculate, straw-colored to bonewhite, verrucose-tuberculate.

    Distribution and Ecology - Occasional in wet seepage areas. Bordeaux (A2614a), Dittlif Point (W648). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, and Virgin Gorda; pantropical.

  • Discussion

    Cyperus monostachyus L., Mant. PL 2: 180. 1771. Abildgaardia monostachya (L.) Vahl, E n u m . PL 2: 296. 1805. Fimbristylis monostachya (L.) Hassk., PL Jav. Rar. 61. 1848. Iria monostachya (L.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. P L 2: 751. 1891. Cyperus caribaeus Pers., Syn. P L 1: 65. 1805.