Fuirena Rottb. ( Rottboll 1773: 70)

Rasaminirina, Fitiavana & Larridon, Isabel, 2023, The genera of Cyperaceae of Madagascar, Plant Ecology and Evolution 156 (3), pp. 276-310 : 276

Fuirena Rottb. ( Rottboll 1773: 70)

Type species.

Fuirena umbellata Rottb.

Description of the genus.

Annuals or rhizomatous perennials. Culms many-noded, rarely scapose, 3-5-sided, sometimes thickened at base. Leaves usually well developed, basal and cauline, ligule tubular, membranous, with blade often reduced in lower leaves (rarely all leaf blades reduced). Involucral bracts leaf-like, usually sheathing, lowermost bract sometimes erect. Inflorescence terminal (in reduced inflorescences, bract may be erect, but clearly leaf-like), paniculate to capitate with few to many spikelets. Glumes many, spirally arranged or rarely pentastichously arranged, deciduous, each subtending a flower, often pubescent, the apex entire and mucronate to awned. Floret bisexual. Perianth present, as long or shorter than nutlet, formed by 3 parts, or when 6 in 2 whorls, the inner parts scale-like, the outer parts bristle-like, rarely all parts reduced or absent or only 1 scale developed, deciduous with the fruit. Stamens 1-3. Style 3-fid, base persistent, barely thickened, if at all. Nutlets obovate, triquetrous to trigonous, frequently stipitate, smooth or variously ornamented. Embryo turbinate to weakly fungiform with a horizontally broadened scutellum, first leaf primordium not strongly outgrown, the second leaf primordium either absent or poorly developed.

Distribution and ecology.

Fuirena is a cosmopolitan genus ( POWO 2022). It grows in seasonally wet grasslands, freshwater wetlands, on sand or in rocky areas. Fuirena occurs throughout Madagascar; seven species are known including e.g. Fuirena pubescens (Poir.) Kunth (Figs 8C , 19 ).

Figures

Figure 8. A. Scleria distans. B. Bulbostylis itremoensis. C. Fuirena pubescens (pale green) and Schoenoplectiella corymbosa (dark green). All photos by Fitiavana Rasaminirina.

Figure 19. Fuirena pubescens. A. Nutlet. B. Habit. C. Leaf sheath apex. D. Inflorescence. E. Glume lateral view. F. Floret. A-C from Taylor 36; D-F from Browning 165. Scale bars: A = 40 mm; B, C = 5 mm; D-F = 1 mm. Drawn by Jane Browning, reproduced with permission from the artist, originally published in Gordon-Gray (1995).