Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: yin ni zhen zhu mao

English: nutrush, Sumatran scleria

Habit:  sedge

Description:  "Robust perennial with thick woody knotty rhizome. Culms erect or somewhat climbing on thickets, 1-4 m long, 6-8 mm thick below the middle, 3-sided with flat sides, glabrous, smooth or scabrid on angles. Leaves of normal kinds on the middle portion of culms, densely aggregated in 3 to 5 pseudowhorls; leaf-blades broadly linear, 20-40 cm long, 7-13 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, glabrous, often puberulent at base, 3-costate, recurved on scabrous margins, gradually tapering above to a long acuminate apex; sheaths densely overlapping, 5-7 cm long, 3-sided, slightly dilated upwards, glabrous or puberulent, winged or not-winged, brown-tinged toward the base; contra-ligule depressed-rounded, 2-3 mm long, straw-brown, densely ciliate. Inflorescence consisting of 2 to 4 dense decompound panicles, all contiguous, oblong to ellipsoidal in outline, 15-30 cm long, 7-10 cm wide, the lateral ones solitary at node but forming pseudowhorl; peduncles exserted, compressed-triangular with very acute scabrid angles; branches spreading, the angles very acute to wing-like; bracteoles setaceous, the secondary and tertiary ones shorter than spikelets. Pistillate spikelets and male spikelets solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3, both sexes intermingled but pistillate spikelets scarce; pistillate spikelets broadly ovoid, 3.5-4 mm long, yellowish-brown, sessile, the two largest glumes broadly ovate, 3.5-4 mm long, acute at apex, straw-brown or purplish-tinged; staminate spikelets sessile or short-peduncled, lanceolate, 3.5-4.25 mm long, yellow- or reddish-brown; stamens 3. Achenes slightly shorter than the subtending glumes, globose or depressed-globose, apiculate, 2-2.25 mm long and as wide, terete, distinctly scrobiculate, dark greyish or brownish at maturity, sparsely puberulent, umbonulate; hypogynium cup-like, half as long as to covering the the greater part of achene, coriaceous, yellowish and orange-red at maturity, 3-lobed, the lobes obtuse, toothed" (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 349).

Habitat/ecology:  "Dry grassy forests and scrubs as well as wet forests and sedge marshes of low country below 1300 ft." (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 349).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "India and Ceylon northeastwards to Formosa, and eastwards to Malesia and tropical Australia" (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 349).

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		Merrill, Elmer D. (1925) (p. 135) In open places and in forests at low and medium altitudes.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's 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)
Negara Brunei Darussalam Brunei	Brunei (Negara Brunei Darussalam)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 68, 78)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 68, 78)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	native	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 78) Vulnerable
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 68, 78)

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

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

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

References:

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

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.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

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.

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