Carex esenbeckii - Three-Nerve Sedge

Three-Nerve Sedge is a densely clustered perennial grass-like plant, 4-33 cm. Stem is 0.3-0.7 mm in diameter, trigonous, scabrous along edges. Leaves up to as long as stem, stiffly erect; sheaths pale to dark brown, to about half of stem length; blades 1.4-3.5 mm wide, flat, keeled, margins scabrous. Flowers are borne unisexual or androgynous spikes, 1.7-4.5 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, female spikes or parts of spikes lax, male parts dense; female glumes 2.2-4.5 x 1-2 mm, lanceshaped or narrowly ovate, blunt to pointed, often with a short sharp point, mid-vein area green, sides orange-brown; male glumes 7-8.5 x 1.6-2 mm, lanceshaped, blunt, margins widely scarious; utricles 1.9-3.5 x 0.4-0.7 mm, obovate. Nuts are long protruding from utricles, 2.5-3.4 x 0.5-0.7 mm, stipe 0.4-0.7 mm. Three-Nerve Sedge is found on wet rocks, in crevices of cliffs, on grassy slopes, lakeshores, on trees, ata ltitudes of 2800-4300 m, in the Himalayas, from Uttarakhand to Nepal, NE India, Myanmar and China. Flowering: July-August.