Bulbostylis hispidula

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Bulbostylis hispidula (Afrikaans: fynbiesie, "fine rush") is a plant native to southern Africa (South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia) and has a very wide, tropical-like distribution that includes Central and northern South America, much of Africa, and Madagascar. A subspecies called pyriformis occurs in all South African provinces except Western Cape. On the SANBI Red List, it is listed as Least Concern (LC).

Habitat and range
- It grows in many habitats: rainy grasslands, deserts, dry grasslands, and coastal marshes.

What it looks like
- Life cycle: annual or perennial plant with a woody, fragrant root stock.
- Size: stems about 50–80 cm tall and 0.5–1.5 mm in diameter.
- Leaves: grow from the base, very narrow (about 0.5 mm wide) and usually short (often 1–2 cm long, but up to around 15 cm).
- Sepals: light green, ranging from very hairy to almost hairless.
- Reproductive parts: small, ovoid structures (thorn-like) 4–15 mm long and 2–4 mm wide.
- Chromosomes: n = 5.

Notes
- There are several subspecies with somewhat narrower ranges, though this is not completely certain.