Carex dickinsii, also known as Dickins' sedge[1] or chao xian tai cao in pinyin, is a tussock-forming species of perennial sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to parts of Japan, Taiwan and south-eastern China.[2]
The sedge has a rhizome and forms slender stems that arise from underground. It forms long culms that have a triangular cross-section and have a rough texture on top and are smooth underneath. The culms have yellow to brown coloured sheaths at there base. The stiff and flat leaves have a width of and are the same length or longer than the culms. The leaves have sheathed and transverse nodes that are compartmentalied between the veins. It has leaflike bracts that appear in a whorl underneath the inflorescences. The flower spikes usually occur in groups of three with a lateral female spike and a club shapeed terminal male spike that is in length.[3]
The species was first described by the botanists Adrien René Franchet and Ludovic Savatier in 1878 as a part of the work Enumeratio Plantarum in Japonia Sponte Crescentium[4]
It has one synonym; Carex coreana described by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1889.[2]
The sedge is found in temperate areas of eastern Asia, from Japan in the north, Korea and the Fujian province of Chine in the south.[2]