515.000 Scleria Bergius

Description of the genus

Annual or perennial herbs. Culms ± triangular, leafy. Leaves linear to narrowly oblong. Sheaths closed. Spikelets bearing flowers of one or both sexes; the bisexual spikelets with one basal female and 1-few males above; female spikelet with 1 basal female and 1-2 empty scales or none, above; male spikelets with 1-numerous male flowers. Flowers unisexual, solitary in axils of the glumes, the lower 2-4 glumes empty. Perianth bristles 0. Male flowers consisting of 1-3 stamens. Female flowers with 3 stigmas, not enclosed in a utricle. Nutlet often white, grey or ± black, borne on a hypogynium. Hypogynium often triangular, widened out into a simple or 3-lobed disk or (rarely) a cupule or almost 0.

Worldwide: 200 species in tropical and warm regions

Zambia: 62 taxa.

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Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
achtenii De Wild.
adpresso-hirta (Kük.) E.A. Rob.
adpressohirta (Kük.) E.A.Rob.
angustifolia E.A. Rob.
arcuata E.A. Rob.
bambariensis Cherm. var. bambariensis B,N,W,S
bambariensis Cherm. var. b of Robinson
bequaertii De Wild.
bulbifera Hochst. ex A.Rich.B,N,W,C,SDescription, Image
calcicola E.A. Rob.[DD]W,C,SDescription
catophylla C.B. ClarkeB,NDescription, Image
chlorocalyx E.A. Rob. [DD]
clathrata A.Rich.
delicatula Nelmes [DD]
distans Poir.N,WDescription, Image
dregeana KunthN,C,SDescription, Image
erythrorrhiza Ridl. NDescription, Image
flexuosa BoeckelerN,W,SDescription, Image
foliosa Hochst. ex A.Rich.C,SDescription, Image
fulvipilosa E.A. Rob. [DD]
glabra Boeck. N,W,C,EDescription, Image
globonux C.B. Clarke N,SDescription, Image
gracillima Boeck.
griegifolia (Ridl.) C.B. ClarkeNDescription, Image
hispidula A.Rich.
induta Turrill
iostephana Nelmes N,CDescription, Image
lacustris Sauvalle [DD]NDescription, Image
lagoensis BoeckelerB,C,SDescription, Image
lateritica Nelmes
laxiflora R. Gross
lithosperma (L.) Sw.
longispiculata Nelmes [DD]B,CDescription, Image
lucentinigricans E.A. Rob. [DD]
melanomphala KunthB,N,W,CDescription, Image
melanotricha A. Rich. WDescription, Image
mikawana Makino
nyasensis C.B. ClarkeN,CDescription, Image
parvula Steud.
patula E.A. Rob. [DD]
paupercula E.A. Rob.N,W,CDescription, Image
pergracilis (Nees) KunthN,C,SDescription, Image
polyrrhiza E.A. Rob. [DD]
pooides Ridl.N,W,CDescription, Image
porphyrocarpa E.A. Rob.
procumbens E.A. Rob. [DD]
pulchella Ridl.
racemosa Poir.N,CDescription, Image
rehmannii C.B. ClarkeB,N,C,SDescription, Image
richardsiae E.A. Rob.
schimperiana BoeckelerC,SDescription, Image
tessellata Willd. var. tessellata CDescription
tessellata Willd. var. sphaerocarpa E.A.Rob. Description, Image
tessellata Willd. [Agg]N,W,C,SDescription
unguiculata E.A. Rob.
veseyfitzgeraldii E.A. Rob.
welwitschii C.B. ClarkeN,C,SDescription, Image
woodii C.B. Clarke (1894)[Agg]B,C,SDescription
woodii C.B. Clarke var. ornata (Cherm.) W. Schultze-MotelSDescription, Image
woodii C.B.Clarke var. woodii NapperDescription, Image
xerophila E.A.Rob. [DD]
zambesica E.A.Rob. [DD]

Other sources of information about Scleria:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Scleria
Flora of Burundi: Scleria
Flora of Caprivi: Scleria
Flora of Malawi: Scleria
Flora of Mozambique: Scleria
Flora of Rwanda: Scleria
Flora of Zimbabwe: Scleria

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Scleria
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Scleria
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Scleria
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Scleria
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Scleria
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Scleria
JSTOR Plant Science: Scleria
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Scleria
Plants of the World Online: Scleria
Tropicos: Scleria
Wikipedia: Scleria

Copyright: Mike Bingham, Annette Willemen, Nicholas Wightman, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Mark Hyde, 2011-25

Bingham, M.G., Willemen, A., Wightman, N., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. and Hyde, M.A. (2025). Flora of Zambia: Genus page: Scleria.
https://www.zambiaflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=291, retrieved 2 April 2025

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