Citation: Kük., Reprium nov. Spec. Regni veg. 44:7 (1938).

Synonymy: S. aphyllus Boeckeler, Linnaea 38:280 (1874), nom. illegit.; S. kennyi sensu Jessop in J. Black, Fl. S. Aust. 290 (1978), non (Bailey)S.T. Blake.

Common name: Desert bog-rush.

Description:
A densely tufted perennial, mostly 15-45 cm high, with oblique to erect, often flexuose slender wiry stems c. 2 mm thick; leaves present or reduced to glossy-brown basal sheaths, these deeply split or quite open, oblique and sometimes mucronate at the apex, ciliate on the margins.

Spikelet in a single dense obovoid or turbinate or hemispherical terminal head, sometimes slightly oblique, brown, ovoid to oblong-lanceolate, 5-6 mm long, not much flattened, usually 2-flowered, the upper flower often male; bracts 0-3, glume-like, short, or the lower one pointed and a little longer than the inflorescence; glumes with ciliate margins, 3 lower ones empty; stamens 4-6 (mostly 6); bristles 0.

Nut ovoid-pyriform, obtuse, cuneate to a beak-like stipe, c. 2 x 1.3 mm, hardly trigonous, nearly hemispherical at the top, not at all ribbed except at the very base, rather tawny and spotted with red, smooth, dull, about half the length of the glume.

Published illustration: Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 170.

Distribution:  S.Aust.: NU, GT, EP, MU, SE.   All mainland States except the N.T. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Sept. — June.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: K. Wilson (pets. comm.) considers it likely that S. kennyi (Bailey) S.T. Blake does not occur in S.Aust.

Author: Not yet available