6.1. Schoenus nigricans L.

Schoenus nigricans (Fig. 2A) is the type species of one of the first 100 genera described by Linnaeus (Linnaeus, 1753; Hitchcock, 1923), and a formal lectotype of this species was later designated by Simpson based on a Linnean specimen (LINN 68.6) collected from Gotland, Sweden (Åsberg and Stearn, 1973; Jarvis, 1993). Key characters of S.nigricans include black basal sheaths that are notably wider than the leaf blades and loosely ovoid inflorescences with one or two bracts (Tucker, 1993). In addition, S. nigricans generally has 10–25 flattened, oblong-ellipsoid spikelets with two to three sterile basal scales (Fig. 2F), as well as three to eight medially 1-veined floral scales (i.e. glumes) with acute apices (Tucker, 1993). Furthermore, S. nigricans plants have whitish, ovoid to ellipsoid achenes that are glossy with obtuse apices (Tucker, 1993).

Schoenus nigricans is a sub-cosmopolitan species found in North America, Eurasia, Africa and Australia, often found growing in damp grasslands (Fig. 3a: Tucker, 1993; Goetghebeur, 1998). In South Africa, S. nigricans specimens have been recorded and databased from the Western and Eastern Cape provinces (Copenhagen: Global Biodiversity Information Facility, 2014).