Fimbristylis nutans (Retz.) Vahl APNI* 
Description: Slender, densely tufted, glabrous perennial with very short rhizome.
Culms obtusely angled to compressed, 15–40 (rarely to 70) cm high, 0.3–1 mm diam.
Leaves reduced to bladeless or very short-bladed sheaths. Inflorescence a single terminal spikelet; involucral bract glume-like, shorter than inflorescence. Spikelet ± nodding, ovoid or broad-ovoid, terete, obtuse or acutish, densely many-flowered, 5–15 mm long, 3–5 mm diam. Glumes spiral, papery, very obtuse, mucronulate, scarcely keeled, 3–5(-9)-nerved near middle, 3.5–4.5 mm long, with shining orange-brown to red-brown sides. Stamens 3; anthers 1.5–2 mm long. Style 2-fid, broad, ciliate above.
Nut biconvex, with obtuse angles, obovoid, shortly and broadly stipitate, 1.2–1.5 mm long, 1–1.25 mm diam., tuberculate towards margins or throughout, with 3–5 transverse wavy ridges, obscurely reticulate by the minute, isodiametric epidermal cells, whitish.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows around swamps and on moist flats; north from Sydney region.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC
Other Australian states: Qld W.A. N.T.
Text by K. L. Wilson
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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