Carex barbayaki Jim.Mejías & Roalson, 2017

Jiménez-Mejías, Pedro & Roalson, Eric H., 2017, Two new Asian species of Carex (Cyperaceae), Phytotaxa 298 (3), pp. 283-288 : 283-285

Carex barbayaki Jim.Mejías & Roalson , sp. nov.

Diagnosis:—The new species seems to be closely related to C. dielsiana Kükenthal (1913:10) , currently placed in section Decorae (Kük.) Ohwi (1936:338) , from which it differs by its strongly canaliculate leaves, less than 1 mm wide (ca. 2 mm in C. dielsiana ; Dai et al. 2010).

Type:— CHINA. Yunnan. Diqing prefecture, Zhondiang county. Geza to Wengsui, 28° 22’ 07’’ N 99° 45’ 27’’ E, 3569 m, 21 Jun 1994, Alpine Garden Society China Expedition 554 (Holotype: E-424751!). Figs. 1–2 .

Perennial, cespitose. Stems 20–25 cm long, 0.4–0.6 mm wide, cylindrical, sulcate, smooth. Leaves basal or 1 cauline, shorter than stems, the longest ones up to 10 cm long, the cauline ones with a short blade up to 1.5–3.5 cm, linear, 0.5– 0.7 mm wide, flattish or slightly canaliculated, stiff, with the margins antrorsely scabrid; ligule of cauline leaves up to 3 mm long, pale orange, subacute; basal sheaths cream colored, with a short mucro-like blade or bladeless, old leaves also persistent, with the dry blades curled, brownish. Inflorescence 1–2 spikes, the terminal androgynous, the lower (if present) female, separated from the upper from a 6.5–8.3 cm internode; terminal spike with a glume-like fertile bract, 4–7 mm long, with scarious brownish sides, a greenish 3-nerved keel, and hyaline margins, with the apex prolonged into a scabrid mucro or arista; lower spike bract with a short linear bract with a ca. 1.5 cm long blade and a 1.7–1.9 cm long sheath with the opening brownish-tinged and the margin hyaline. Terminal spike 23–28 mm long, cylindrical, the male part 15–19 × 1.2–2 mm, the female part 8–12 × 2–3 mm, dense, utricles ascending, 8–14. Lower spike 9–9.5 × 2–2.5 mm, obovate, erect, with a 5.3–7 cm peduncle, lax, utricles ascending, 5–6. Male glumes 4.2–4.5 × 1.2–1.5 mm, oblong, brownish, with a paler mid nerve and broadly hyaline margins, acute. Female glumes 2.6–3.2 × 1.8–2.4, sub-rhomboid, brownish, with a greenish 1-nerved midrib and broad hyaline margins, acute. Stigmas 3. Utricles 4–5 × 1–1.2 mm, narrowly elliptical, obscurely trigonous, flattish, glabrous, shining, with only the two lateral nerves prominent, glabrous, sparsely scabrid on the nerves from the upper half or only on the top, yellowish, attenuated into a beak 0.7–1 mm long, obscurely bidentate, reddish at the tip and with a scarious border. Achenes 2.5–2.6 × 0.8–0.8, narrowly obovate, trigonous, yellowish, with a 0.3 × 0.2 mm cylindrical style base, and attenuating towards the base sometimes contracting into a false stipe.

Etymology:—From the Latin “ barba ”, beard, and yak ( Bos mutus ), the long-haired bovid found in mountain regions of SE Asia and the Himalayas, in reference to the dry curled old leaves, that resemble the wool of these animals.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype of Carex barbayaki Jim.-Mejías & Roalson.

FIGURE 2. Detailed picture of the holotype of Carex barbayaki Jim.-Mejías & Roalson. A. Inflorescence. B. Cauline leave. C. Male glume. D. Female glume. E. Achene. F. Utricles. Scale bars represent 1 mm.