International Organization For Plant Information

Perennials, caespitose or with creeping rhizomes or stolons. Leaves with obtuse, sometimes swollen, usually mucronate tip; cauline leaves usually distinctly smaller than the basal ones. Lower bract short, leaf-like. Inflorescence simple or sparsely (rarely more densely) branched, ±umbelloid (corymbose); flowers borne singly. Seeds with apical (distal) appendages mostly 0.3–1.7 mm long; seed base not fibrillate. Endodermis cells U-shaped in T.S. Agmatoploids only.

Description Table:

1	Seed appendages 0.1–0.3 mm long; seed/appendage ratio 5–13; inflorescence mostly decompound, rarely compound; secondary/primary pedicels ratio (1.0–) 1.3–2.5	107. L. johnstonii
1:	Seed appendages 0.3–2.2 mm long; seed/appendage ratio 0.7–5(–6); inflorescence simple to compound, rarely decompound; secondary/primary pedicels ratio mostly 0–1.9
2	Leaves with a short mucronate projection extending from the callose tip
3	Seed appendages 0.3–1.1(–1.3) mm long; inflorescence compound; secondary/primary pedicels ratio 0.3–1.9(–2.8); basal sheaths reddish-brown; plants caespitose or rhizomatous; tepals light brown to blackish castaneous brown	108. L. forsteri
2:	Leaves without a mucronate projection extending from the callose tip
4	Cauline leaves linear-oblong, with ±parallel margins, to oblanceolate, broadest in upper half, abruptly tapering at apex with broadest cauline leaves 3.5–7 mm wide, 8–25 times longer than wide; apex abruptly cuspidate. [Honshu to Sakhalin & Kamchatka]	114. L. jimboi
4:	Cauline leaves narrowly lanceolate, broadest in lower half, gradually tapering to apex, mostly 1–4.5 mm wide, mostly 20–50 times longer than wide; apex acute to mostly acuminate
5	Tepals 2.0–2.9 mm long; inflorescence mostly simple, occasionally with 1–2 secondary pedicels present; secondary/primary pedicels ratio 0–0.3(–0.4); basal leaves 1.5–3 mm wide [E Asia to Alaska & Yukon]	115. L. rufescens
5:	Tepals 2.6–4.5 mm long; inflorescence mostly compound or (especially in L. acuminata subsp. acuminata) simple, often with 1–2 (–3) secondary pedicels on some of the primary pedicels present; secondary/primary pedicels ratio often 0.3–1.8; most basal leaves 2.5–13 mm wide
6	Plants stoloniferous, with stolons to 6 cm long. [Southeastern Canada, eastern U.S.A.]	111. L. acuminata
6:	Plants mostly caespitose, occasionally with stolons or rhizomes. [outside North America]
7	Primary pedicels 9–19; most of the pedicels nodding to reflexed; anther/filament ratio 1.7–4.7. [Europe & western half of Siberia]	110. L. pilosa
7:	Primary pedicels 5–12; pedicels mostly erect to spreading; anther/filament ratio mostly 0.3–2.3. [S-C Asia to E Asia]
8:	Capsule conspicuously exceeding tepals; capsule/tepal ratio 1.1–1.9; anthers 0.4–0.7 mm long, shorter than filaments; anther/filament ratio 0.3–0.7. [Taiwan]	112. L. formosana
8:	Capsule shorter or equalling to slightly exceeding tepals; capsule/tepal ratio 0.8–1.3; anthers (0.4–) 0.6–1.5 mm, shorter to longer than filaments; anther/filament ratio 0.6–2.3
9	Basal leaves 1.5–10 (–13) mm wide; tepals 2.6–4.5 mm long; anther/filament ratio 0.6–1.2 (up to 2.3 in subsp. dilatata but then basal leaves always broader than 4 mm); secondary/primary pedicels ratio 0–2.5	113. L. plumosa
9:	Basal leaves 1.5–4 mm wide (extremely rarely up to 6 mm); tepals 2.2–3.5 mm long; anther/filament ratio 1.1–2.5; secondary/primary pedicels ratio 0–0.5 [Mongolia to Russian Far East]	115. L. rufescens

Geography:

A subgenus of 9 species and approximately the same number of additional infraspecific units, with the main centre of diversity in E Asia. The species are very similar to one another, but individual taxa are often allopatric. Most of the species show high levels of variation, which is often difficult to interpret in terms of formal taxonomy. Local or regional populations and aberrant morphotypes are occasionally found. Even within well defined species, individual populations with single features deviating from the most common variation range may occasionally appear. Most species occur in forest habitats of temperate or boreal zones of the Northern Hemisphere, while Luzula johnstonii Buchenau is confined to the eastern part of Tropical Africa.

Notes:

Note: The ratio between the numbers of secondary and primary pedicels in the inflorescence is in the following text referred to in the abbreviated form ‘secondary/primary pedicels ratio’. Other ratios (seed/appendage ratio, anther/filament ratio, capsule/tepal ratio) are given as a ratio between lengths of each organ.

SourceHigherTaxon from IOPI:

Juncaceae

Type:

T: Luzula forsteri (Sm.) DC., lecto, fide J.E.Ebinger, Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10(5): 283 (1964).