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Species profile—Carex rafflesiana

Classification

Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → CyperaceaeCarex rafflesiana

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Species details

Kingdom
Plantae (plants)
Class
Equisetopsida (land plants)
Family
Cyperaceae
Scientific name
Carex rafflesiana Boott
WildNet taxon ID
4482
Synonym(s)
Carex cruciata
Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
Least concern
Conservation significant
No
Confidential
No
Endemicity
Native
Pest status
Nil
Description
Carex rafflesiana is a perennial herb with a short rhizome, the stems are up to 2 m long. The leaves are mostly as long as or shorter than the stems. The inflorescence is reddish brown and up to 70 cm long. The leafy bracts below the inflorescence are as long or longer than the inflorescence. The glumes are ovate or ovate-lanceolate with an acute tip. The glumes are membranous, subtranslucent, glabrous or sparsely hispidulous, with reddish brown streaks on the surface, 1.5 to 3.5 mm long. The nuts are inside a utricle that is distinctly trigonous and not inflated. The utricle is ellipsoid or ovoid-ellipsoid, membranous or subcoriaceous, straight or slightly recurved, with 3 to 7 more or less distinct nerves on the sides, the surface is glabrous or sparsely hispidulous and they are subabruptly beaked, stramineous with reddish brown streaks and spots, 2 to 4 mm long by 0.8 to 1 mm wide; The beak is slender, scabrid on the margins, 1 to 1.5 mm long with oblique but soon bidenticulate mouth. The nut has concave sides, is ellipsoid, and stramineous to brown in colour, 1.5 to 2 mm by 0.75 to 1 mm (Kern, 1979)
Carex rafflesiana is easily distinguished from other Carex species by its reddish, oblong-ovoid inflorescence held erect at the top of the culms (Kern, 1979).
Distribution
Occurs in Queensland from Eungella National Park in the south to the tip of Cape York. It also occurs throughout Malesia (Kern, 1979). The species is conserved within Iron Range National Park (NP), Cedar Bay NP, Daintree NP, Wooroonooran NP, and Eungella NP (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
Distributional limits
-12.7568273, 143.2261163
-21.1135672, 148.5190217
Range derivation
Range derived from extent of the taxon's confirmed records
Habitat
Occurs on rainforest or vine thicket margins, notophyll vine forest, nanophyll mossy thickets and montane heathlands from near sea-level to 1500 m altitude (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
Threatening processes
Potential threats include inappropriate fire regimes (Booth pers. comm.).
Status notes
Carex rafflesiana (as Carex cruciata) is listed as 'near threatened' under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992.
Notes
Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral districts: Cook, South Kennedy. Also occurs in the following regions: Malesia.
References
Kern, J.H. and Nooteboom, H.P. (1979) Flora Malesiana 9: 120-121.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 22/02/2012.
Profile author
Ronald Booth (22/02/2012)

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=4482.

This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.

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Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Last updated
20 May 2024