Carex parva

{{Short description|Species of sedge}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Carex parva.jpg

| genus = Carex

| species = parva

| authority = Nees

}}

Carex parva, also known to Chinese people as xiao tai cao, is a tussock-forming species of perennial sedge in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to parts of Asia from Afghanistan to Mongolia.{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:301449-1|title=Carex parva Nees |access-date=15 September 2022 |publisher=Kew Science – Plants of the World Online}}

The sedge has a loosely-tufted habit and has thick horizontal rhizome that can be up to {{cvt|20|cm}} in length and covered in scales that disintegrate in time. The soft, smooth and sometimes flattened culms reach a height of {{cvt|10|to|35|cm}} and have brown coloured basal sheaths.

The species was described by the botanist Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck in 1834 as published in Contributions to the Botany of India.{{cite web|url=http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000349825|title=Care parva Nees|accessdate=14 September 2022|publisher=World Flora Online}} The type specimen was collected in a boggy meadow in the Kishenganga Valley leading to Nanga Parbat in Kashmir.{{cite web|url=http://legacy.tropicos.org/Name/9905782|title=Carex parva Nees|accessdate=2 November 2022|work=Tropicos|publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden}} There are three synonyms; Carex macrorhyncha, Carex unifoliata and Kobresia lolonum.{{cite web|url=https://tree.opentreeoflife.org/taxonomy/browse?name=Carex%20unifoliata|title=Carex parva|accessdate=2 November 2022|work=Open Tree taxonomy|publisher=Open Tree of Life}}

The range of the plant extends from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the west to the coast of China in the east. It is found from Kazakhstan and Mongolia in the north to Pakistan in the south. It is found throughout the Himalayas.