Species profile—Lepidosperma quadrangulatum
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Cyperaceae → Lepidosperma quadrangulatum
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- Scientific name
- Lepidosperma quadrangulatum A.A.Ham.
- WildNet taxon ID
- 10153
- Alternate name(s)
- swordsedge
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Least concern
- Conservation significant
- No
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Description
- Lepidosperma quadrangulatum is a tufted grass-like plant with a long creeping root and grows to 1.5m high. The stems are rigid, erect, strongly 4-angled (but may be more rounded near the base or tip), with the faces often concave, usually striate on the angles, hairless, smooth and 45-150cm long by 1.5-2.5mm in diameter. The leaves are similar in form to the stems, but shorter, broader and flatter. Leaves are 50-75cm long, 1.3-3mm wide, with a yellow-brown to dark brown sheath at the base, dull and not sticky. The rounded edges of the angles on the leaves are more prominent and form a shallow channel that is more conspicuous on the broadside of the leaf.
The flower heads are ovate or oblong in shape, erect, dense, 2-8cm long and 1-2cm in diameter. The few spikelets are densely clustered and 5-7mm long. The flower heads consist of a few densely clustered spikelets 5-7mm long. Each spikelet ahs 5-7 glumes. These have a long mucro (narrowed point) at the tip. The lowest 2-3 are empty and somewhat shorter than the upper, fertile glumes, which are 5-6mm long. There are 5-6 scales at the base of the nut, a quarter to a third the length of the nut, and whitish to yellow in colour. The nuts are obovoid (wider at the top), 2-2.8mm long by 1-1.6mm wide, 3-angled, with prominent ribs. The nuts are white to yellow-brown coloured, shiny and smooth.
Lepidosperma quadrangulatum is distinguished from other Lepidosperma species in the area by the 4-angled stems. (Hamilton 1920; Stanley & Ross 1989; Wilson 2008) - Distribution
- Lepidosperma quadrangulatum is found at Mt Coolum and Mt Emu in south-east Queensland. It is also found in coastal areas north from Jervis Bay in New South Wales. (Wilson 2008; Herbrecs 2008)
- Distributional limits
- -26.5067363, 153.0899311
-26.5941679, 153.0927238 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Lepidosperma quadrangulatum grows in coastal wet heath or swampy forest dominated by eucalypt or melaleuca species with a shrubby understorey. It occurs among sedges in the seepage area at the base of mountain slopes and in association with Allocasuarina emuina (Mt Emu she-oak). It grows on clay and loamy soils. (Wilson 2008; Herbrecs 2008)
- Reproduction
- Lepidosperma quadrangulatum flowers from spring to summer. (Wilson 2008)
- Notes
- Contributors: Ron Booth, Mellisa Mayhew 17/06/2009
- References
- Hamilton, A.A. (1920). Notes from the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales Series 2, 45(2): 261.
Herbrecs (2008). Lepidosperma quadrangulatum, in BriMapper version 2.12. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 26/11/2008.
Wilson, K.L. (2008). Lepidosperma quadrangulatum, in PlantNet: New South Wales Flora Online. National Herbarium of New South Wales. Accessed 19/11/2008.
Stanley, T.D. & Ross, E.M. (1989). Flora of south-eastern Queensland. Volume 3. Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane. - Profile author
- Ronald Booth (17/06/2009)
Other resources
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=10153.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
