Corispermum lhasaense C. P. Tsien & C. G. Ma

Corispermum lhasaense is very closely related to C. falcatum. Additional studies would be desirable to clarify the status of this little-known entity.

Plants 15-20 cm tall. Stem terete, finely ribbed, much branched; branches crowded, 10-20 cm. Leaves linear, 2-3 cm × 2-3 mm, subfleshy, 1-veined, base attenuate, apex pungent, mucronate. Spikelike inflorescence terete, crowded, usually 3-5 × ca. 0.7 cm; bracts usually lanceolate to ovate, equaling or broader than utricle, slightly keeled abaxially, rough, usually 1-veined, base rounded, margin broadly membranous, apex acute, mucronate. Perianth segment 1, oblong or broadly elliptic, ca. 1.4 × 0.4 mm. Stamen 1; filament 1-1.5 × as long as perianth. Utricle sublustrous, oblong-obovate, 4-5 × 3-3.5 mm, glabrous, base subcordate, apex obtuse-emarginate; wing ca. 1.7 mm wide, margin irregularly shallowly toothed; beak ca. 1 mm, apices 2, ca. 1/2 as long as beak. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Xizang (Lhasa).

* Sandy places on riversides; ca. 3600 m.

Annual up to 20 cm, glabrescent. Leaves lanceolate, up to 3.0 × 0.3 cm long. Inflorescence dense, 3–5 cm long. Inflorescence elongated. Bracts oblong to ovoid, moderately recurved or sometimes appressed to the stem, completely covering the fruit. Fruit 3.8–4.7 × 3.0–3.5 mm, glabrous (sometimes with dark-brown tanniniferous cells), thick (0.75–0.85 mm) with well-developed wing 0.65–0.90 mm (especially large near the fruit apex; Fig. 36A). Wing irregularly toothed, emarginate, triangular in cross-section. Pericarp without detachments from the seed coat. Sclereids in the medium fruit part consist of 1–3 cell layers orientated parallel to the fruit axis.

See Fig. 35.