Family |
Cyperaceae
Schoenus nigricans
L.
Schoenus nigricans L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 43; 1753. Treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 172, Pl. LI nº 1; 1966)
• Life-form & habit: Perennial sedge with a cespitose rhizome producing dense tufts of flowering and sterile shoots. Culms erect, 20 – 80 cm, stiff, smooth, striated, leafless except at the base where enclosed by shiny reddish-brown or blackish sheaths.
• Leaves: Basal, triangular, erect or slightly arched, usually shorter than the culms; sheaths glossy brown.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Capitate, composed of 5 – 15 sessile or subsessile spikelets, shiny brown-black to copper-coloured, acute, few-flowered. Glumes 6 – 7, lanceolate, hyaline-margined, keeled. Perigonal bristles 3 – 6, brown, much shorter than the achene.
• Fruit: Achene white, shining, obovoid, compressed, biconvex, bicarenate, about 3 mm long, transversely striated.
• Phenology: Flowers April – October.
• Habitat & elevation: Peaty or slightly acidic marshes, wet meadows, and humid soils from the coast to the mountains.
• Lebanese distribution: Nahr Beyrouth, Bouar, ‘Abey, Broummana, Bikfaya, Qrayé, Terbol, Jébrayé, Bcharré, Faraya, Jabal Kneissé, ‘Aqoura, Outaya, Khatouniyé.
• Native range: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Bahamas, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, California, Cape Provinces, Chad, Corse, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, East Aegean Is., Eritrea, Ethiopia, Florida, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Gulf States, Honduras, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kirgizstan, Kriti, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Mexico NE–SW, Morocco, Netherlands, Nevada, New Mexico, Nicaragua, North Caucasus, Northern Provinces, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, Somalia, South European Russia, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Texas, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turks-Caicos Is., Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe (POWO).
• Extinct in: Norway (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A cosmopolitan sedge often forming monospecific stands in wetlands. Distinguished from Schoenus mucronatus L. by its dense capitate inflorescence, blackish spikelets, and shorter bristles.