Fuirena ciliaris (L.) Roxb., Cyperaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Scirpus ciliaris L.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: mao fu lan cao

Habit:  sedge

Description:  "Annual culms tufted in small clumps with fibrous roots only, slender, (5-) 10-50 cm tall, 1-2 mm wide, obtusely angular, remotely 2- to 4-noded, leaved throughout, pubescent at least above.  Basal leaves reduced to bladeless sheaths; bladed leaves on the culm; blades linear, 5-15 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, 3- or 5-costate, soft, wholly pubescent or ciliate-margined, briefly acute at apex; sheaths 1-3 cm long, pubescent; ligules 1-2 mm long.  Inflorescence with 1 to 3 glomerulous clusters of spikelets, spaced at upper axils of culms; clusters 1-2 cm across, bearing 3 to 10 spikelets; peduncles short, mostly inclosed in bract-sheath; bracts leaf-like, surpassing inflorescence.  Spikelets ovate or oblong-elliptic, 4-12 mm long, 3 mm wide, subacute at apex, squarrose, greyish-green, pubescent.  Glumes awned, the body obovate to obovate-oblong elliptical, 1.5-1.7 mm long, 1.25 mm wide, thinly membranous, short-pubescent outside with pilose centre, the costa 3-nerved, projected beyond acute or obtuse glume apex into a recurved awn c. 1 mm long.  Achenes obovate to elliptic, 0.8-1 mm long, 0.5-0.6 mm wide, subsharply triquetrous with obscurely wrinkled sides, short-stipitate at cuneate base; style longer than the achene, 3-fid.  Hypogynous bristles 3, needle-like, occasionally much reduced, scabrid to smooth.  Hypogynous squamellae 3, equaling the achene, longitudinally rectangular with 3-denticulate apex, long-stipitate at base, brownish.  Stamens 3: anthers 0.25 mm long"  (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 150).

Habitat/ecology:  In Sri Lanka, "open wet or swampy places such as wet grasslands, river banks or margins of ponds and rice fields; 0-1000 m altitude" (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 150).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World: tropical Africa, Indian subcontinent, southeastern Asia, southern China and Japan, Malesia and Australia" (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 150).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	Merrill, Elmer D. (1925) (p. 116) In rice paddies, open wet lands, etc., at low and medium altitudes, often abundant.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 316) On margin of ponds and other wet places.
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Ryukyu Islands	Ryukyu Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
South Korea South Korea	South Korea (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (p. 66)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Fuirena ciliaris is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Fuirena ciliaris as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Fuirena ciliaris may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Dassanayake, M. D., gen. ed. 1983. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol V. Amerind Pub. Co., New Delhi. 476 pp.

Merrill, Elmer D. 1925. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 1 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 463 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Waterhouse, D. F. 1993. The major arthropod pests and weeds of agriculture in Southeast Asia. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra. 141 pp.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).