Latin name

Fuirena ciliaris (L.) Roxb.

Family

Cyperaceae

Common name(s)

Umbrella grass

Synonym(s)

Scirpus ciliaris L. (basionym), Fuirena rottboelli Nees, F. glomerata Lam.

Geographical distribution

Asia: China, Japan, and Korea.

South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Rest of the world: Australia, Tanzania, West Africa, and Zambia.

Morphology

A tufted slender annual; to 40—cm—tall.

Stem: thickened at base and with longitudinal lines or furrows; hairy at top or sometimes throughout, with 2—4 nodes; solid and circular in cross section; about 10—40—cm tall and 1—2—mm—thick.

Leaf: well developed except the basal leaves, which are reduced to bladeless sheaths; blade 5—15—cm—long; margin and upper surface hairy; sheath also hairy; ligule 1.5—2.5—mm—long, membranous.

Inflorescence: terminal or borne in leaf axils; composed of very dense spikelets with short peduncles; spikelets grayish green to dull brown, arranged in clusters with 1—3 clusters on each stem.

Fruit: smooth or glossy, brown to straw-colored nut, 3—angled, about 1—mm—long and narrowly beaked.

Biology and ecology

Reproduces by seeds; commonly found in rainfed lowland rice fields and in swampy grasslands.

Agricultural importance

Can be a locally important weed of rice.

Management

Cultural control: hand weeding/cutting.

Chemical control: not known.

Selected references

Hafliger E. 1982. Monocot weeds 3. Basle (Switzerland): CIBA-GEIGY Ltd. 132 p.

Kern JH. 1974. Cyperaceae. Flora Malesiana Ser. 1 7(3): 435-753.

Merrill ED. 1976. A flora of Manila. Manila (Philippines): Department of the Interior, Bureau of Science. 491 p.

Moody K. 1989. Weeds reported in rice in South and Southeast Asia. Manila (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute. 442 p.

Pancho JV, Obien SR. 1995. Manual of ricefield weeds in the Philippines. Muñoz, Nueva Ecija (Philippines): Philippine Rice Research Institute. 543 p.

Soerjani M, Kostermans AJGH, Tjitrosoepomo G. 1987. Weeds of rice in Indonesia. Jakarta (Indonesia): Balai Pustaka. 716 p.

Contributors

JLA Catindig, RT Lubigan, and DE Johnson