Scleria canescens
Diagnostic description 1
Scleria canescens Böck., Cyp. Nov. 1: 37. 1888.
Perennial herb, robust, climbing, forming large impenetrable colonies, and attaining 3.5 m in length. Culms ascendant, acutely triquetrous, 3-10 mm wide, retrorsely and antrorsely scabrous on the corners, strigose on the distal portion. Leaves numerous, alternate, sparse, broadly linear, 25-60 × 0.4-1.0 cm, pleated or almost flat, with three main parallel veins, subrigid, retrorsely scabrous on the veins and the margins, the apex acuminate or obtuse; leaf sheath as long as the internode, scabrous on the angles. Panicles solitary, distal or axillary, pyramidal, the distal ones 6-14 cm long, with a short leafy bract at the base; axes minutely pubescent or glabrous; bracteoles filiform. Staminate and pistillate spikelets 4-6 mm long; sterile scales 4-5, ovatecircular, brown or reddish brown, finely ciliate on the margins, the apex apiculate. Achenes ovoid-globose or ovoid, 2.6-3.3 mm long, white, shiny or with a purple tinge; hypogynium trilobate, 1-1.8 mm long, whitish, the lobes semicircular, with the margins reflexed and appressed to the achene.
Phenology:Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.
Status: Apparently endemic to Puerto Rico. Locally very common.
Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 11449; González Más 1410. Scleria scindens: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 2606; 2884; 5102; 7150. Scleria secans Britton, N. L. & Cowell 1402.
Distribution 2
Distribution: In moist or rain forests of the cordilleras. Reported for Cuba, but no specimens seen or found.
Public Forests: Carite, El Yunque, Guilarte, Maricao, and Toro Negro.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435587
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435987
