Fimbristylis pauciflora (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Fimbristylis pauciflora R. Br.

Family: Cyperaceae

Synonyms

• Fimbristylis filiformis (Nees) Kunth,
• F. malaccana Boeck.,
• F. pumila Benth.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: rumput jani (Riau)
• Malaysia: rumput girah, rumput sapi, rumput jambak (Peninsular)
• Thailand: ya-preangmu (Chanthaburi), nuatmaeo (Trat)
• Vietnam: cỏ quăm lông bò.

Distribution

Thailand, Indo-China, the Ryukyu Islands, the Carolines, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, the Moluccas, New Guinea and northern Australia.

Uses

Ploughed in and used as a green manure in rice fields.

Observations

• Glabrous, perennial herb forming large clumps, up to 30 cm tall.
• Leaf blades absent or short.
• Inflorescence consisting of a single, terminal, narrow spikelet, 3-6 mm × 1-1.5 mm; glumes arranged spirally, muticous, pale; style slightly thickened at base, ciliate, with 2-3 stigmas.
• Fruit an obovoid, verruculose nut.

F. pauciflora occurs in sunny or shaded, damp, sandy or clayey sites, on swamps edges, and in rice fields, up to 800 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd Edition. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.
• Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Series 1. Volume 1, 4-. Kluwer, Dordrecht & Flora Malesiana Foundation, Leiden, the Netherlands.
• Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 379 pp.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen