Common Name

Button Rush

Family

Cyperaceae

Notes

Annual sedge to 35cm tall. Leaves basal, with a sheath at the base, shorter than the flower stems, 1-2mm wide, thread-like. Spikelets pale green, one-flowered, with 0 petals, 1-2mm long, in 1-6 oval clusters 2-10mm long, 3-10mm wide, at the tops of the flower stems, subtended by 2-3 leaflike bracts. Grows in shallow water and in moist places. Vulnerable Vic.

Description and line drawing in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales pages 168-169. Rikliella australiensis, described on page 169, is now included in Lipocarpha microcephala.  Note that this paragraph and that in eFloraSA interpret each flower head as a many-flowered spikelet.

PlantNET description with line drawings and photos:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lipocarpha~microcephala

Dried plant. Missouri Botanical Garden, origin Australia