Carex capillifolia(Decne.) S.R.Zhang

WFO wfo-0001343375 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Carex capillifolia, photographed by Dmitriy Bochkov
fig. a Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY 4.0 / 2019-07-21 / obs. 49076066
Carex capillifolia, photographed by Dmitriy Bochkov
fig. b Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 49076087
Carex capillifolia, photographed by Dmitriy Bochkov
fig. c Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31547331

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 1174574
Filed as
Carex capillifolia (Decne.) S.R.Zhang
Det. by
Strong, M. T., (US), Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History (UNITED STATES)
Collected
R. R. Stewart & I. Stewart 1920-07-01
Origin
PK
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 19 botanical countries

Regions where Carex capillifolia is native: Afghanistan, Altay, China North-Central, China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tuva, Xinjiang, East Himalaya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya AfghanistanAltayChina North-CentralChina South-CentralInner MongoliaKazakhstanKirgizstanMongoliaNorth CaucasusQinghaiTadzhikistanTibetTranscaucasusTuvaXinjiangEast HimalayaNepalPakistanWest Himalaya
Native distribution of Carex capillifolia, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
Inner Mongolia CHI
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Qinghai CHQ
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Tuva TVA
Xinjiang CHX
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 14 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Carex ninae Melnikov
  • Carex ovczinnikovii (T.V.Egorova) Melnikov
  • Carex owerinii Melnikov
  • Elyna capillifolia Decne.
  • Elyna macrolepis (Meinsh.) Fomin & Woronow
  • Elyna spicata Boiss.
  • Kobresia brunnescens Boeckeler
  • Kobresia capillifolia (Decne.) C.B.Clarke
  • Kobresia capilliformis N.A.Ivanova
  • Kobresia elata Boeckeler
  • Kobresia macrolepis Meinsh.
  • Kobresia ovczinnikovii T.V.Egorova
  • Kobresia thomsonii Maxim. ex N.A.Ivanova
  • Kobresia yushuensis Y.C.Yang

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.