Botanical name: Carex cruciata    Family: Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Synonyms: Carex bengalensis, Carex hakkuensis, Carex valida

Cross Grass is a perennial herb, 40-90 cm tall. Rhizomes are long, woody. Stems are 1.5-2.5 mm in diameter, noded, trigonous, smooth. Leaves are longer than stem; sheaths dark, often disintegrating into fibres; blades 4-10 mm wide, folded, prominent nerves rough. Inflorescence is 20-40 cm, partial inflorescences remote; partial inflorescences 2-6, ovoid-pyramidal, rather dense, lower long stalked, flower-cluster-stalks scabrous. Bracts are longer than inflorescence, long vaginate. Spikes are 5-6 mm, female and male parts almost equal; glumes ovate, with a short sharp point, brown. Utricles are longer than glumes, 3.5-4 mm, ovoid or ellipsoid, slightly inflated, velvet-hairy above; beak abruptly contracted, often curved, scabrous, bitoothed. Cross Grass is found in forest margins, grasslands, roadsides, at altitudes of 300-2500 m, in S China, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Madagascar. Flowering: July-August.

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The flower labeled Cross Grass is ...