Carex helferi

Carex helferi is a tussock-forming species of perennial sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to parts of South East Asia.

Description
The sedge has a woody rhizome with central culms that have a triangular cross-section with a length of 20 to 50 cm and a width of 1 to 3 mm and that are smooth lower down with a rough texture toward the top. It has basal flattish to folded lengthwise leaves with a broadly linear to lanceolate shaped blade that is 17 to 60 cm long with a 1 to 7 cm long dark brown sheaths that usually disintegrate. The narrow inflorescences appear as a narrow branched cluster with a length of 17 to 20 cm with three to six crowded to distant nodes.

Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist Johann Otto Boeckeler in 1876 as a part of the work Linnaea. It has two synonyms;
 * Carex helferi subsp. mapaniifolia (Ridl.) T.Koyama
 * Carex mapaniifolia Ridl.

Distribution
It is often situated along river banks in the understorey of evergreen forests from an altitude of 0 to 400 m in tropical biomes, the range of the plant extends from Myanmar in the north to Thailand in the south and on the island of Java in Indonesia.