About Scirpus radicans Schkuhr
Scirpus radicans Schkuhr is a perennial herb that grows 60–125 centimeters tall, occasionally reaching up to 150 centimeters. It has a short rhizome. Its stems produce long lateral shoots that arc down toward the soil and root at their tip. Its flat leaves grow up to 2 centimeters wide. Its perianth setae are 2–3 times longer than the nut, sinuous, and nearly smooth. It forms a spreading paniculate inflorescence 10–20 centimeters long, with spikelets borne one at a time at the end of the inflorescence's smooth branches. The spikelets are pointed, lanceolate, blackish, 5–8 millimeters long, and also oblong-ovate to narrowly ovate, measuring 5–8 millimeters long by approximately 2 millimeters wide, and they bear abundant flowers. The spike scales are densely arranged, oblong, around 2 millimeters long, and membranous. Both surfaces of the scales are dark grayish-black, with a pale yellow midrib; the base of the scale is sometimes straw-colored, the margins at the apex are ciliate, and the apex is rounded. The anthers are approximately 1 millimeter long and linear-oblong. The nut is pale yellow, obovate, around 1 millimeter long, and three-sided compressed. The chromosome number for this species is 2n = 56.
