Yosemite Leafless Bulrush

Scirpus clementis M. E. Jones, Contr. W Bot. 14: 21. 1912.
Scirpus yosemitanus Smiley, Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 9: 108. 1821.
Dwarf, very densely cespitose, fibrous-rooted perennial; culms 0.3-1.2 dm. long, erect, green, grooved, terete, smooth, clothed at the base with brown, persistent sheaths, the margin of the orifice very hyaline, soon splitting, the upper sheath green, its blade (1-4 cm. long) ca. 5 mm. broad, blunt-tipped, smooth or very obscurely scabrous on the margins, rather spongy; spikelets 2-3 mm. long, 1-2 mm. broad, solitary, terminal, 2-4-flowered; outer scale 2-3 mm. long, brown, prominently bracteal, the midrib yellow, prolonged 3.3 mm., smooth or scabrousmargined, blunt-tipped; inner scales ovate, brown with a yellow midrib; bristles 6, variable, yellow, broad, chartaceous, shorter than the achene; stamens 3; style trifid, brick-red; achene 2 mm. long, 1 mm. broad, dark brown, ovate, trigonous, minutely apiculate.
Type locality: Rae Lake, Fresno County, California.
Distribution: Gravel banks and wet peaty meadows near mountain streams; Sierra Nevada, California.