冰沼草科 bing zhao cao ke
Guo Youhao (郭友好)[1]; Robert R. Haynes[2], C. Barre Hellquist[3]
Plants perennial, of marshes, with creeping rhizomes. Stems erect, leafy, unbranched. Leaves alternate, linear, sheathing at base; sheaths open, with a prominent ligule at juncture of sheath and blade; sheath remains often persistent, intravaginal hairs numerous. Racemes terminal, few flowered. Flowers bisexual, 3-merous, bracteate. Pedicels elongating following fertilization. Perianth segments 6, in 2 series, sepaloid, free, persistent; stamens 6, free, with elongated filaments; anthers basifixed, linear, extrorse, opening by longitudinal slits. Pistils 3(–6), distinct to connate at base; stigmas sessile, papillous; ovules 2 or few in each carpel. Fruiting carpels follicular, inflated; follicles 1–4 per aggregate. Seeds 1 or 2(or 3), without endosperm; embryo straight.
One genus and one species: widely distributed in the cooler parts of the northern temperate zone in Eurasia and North America; the one species occurs in China.
冰沼草属 bing zhao cao shu
The description and distribution as for the family.
冰沼草 bing zhao cao
Rhizome clothed with persistent leaf bases. Leaves semiterete, basal ones 20–30(–40) cm, those on stems 2–13 cm, entire, with a pore on upper side at apex; sheaths auriculate. Racemes lax, 3–10-flowered; bracts leaflike, with reduced blades; pedicels 2–4 mm; perianth segments yellowish green, narrowly lanceolate, ca. 3 mm. Follicles 5–7 mm. Seeds ellipsoidal, 3–4 mm. Fl. Jun–Jul. 2n = 22.
Marshes. NW China, Qinghai, W Sichuan [Russia; Asia, Europe, North America].
[1] Herbarium or Wuhan University, Department of Biology, Wuchang, Hubei, People’s Republic of China
[2] Herbarium, Biological Sciences, Biodiversity and Systematics Department, University of Alabama, Box 870345, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0345, U.S.A.
[3] Department of Biology, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, Massachusetts 01247-4100, U.S.A.