Mapania caudata

{{Short description|Species of grass-like plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|image=Mapania caudata Kük. 1929586881.jpg

|genus=Mapania

|species=caudata

|authority=Kük.{{cite journal|last=Kükenthal|first=G.| title=Cyperaceae novae vel minus cognitae. X.|journal=Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis|editor-last=Fedde| editor-first=Friedrich| year=1931|volume=29|issue=11–20 |pages=187–202 [201]|doi=10.1002/fedr.19310291106 | url=https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/records/item/14738-repertorium-specierum-novarum-regni-vegetabilis-fasciculus-xxix-1931}}

|synonyms_ref={{Cite web |url=https://wcsp.science.kew.org/namedetail.do?name_id=253075 |title=Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families}}

|synonyms= Mapania petiolata var. pumila Uittien

Mapania cuspidata var. pumila (Uittien) Uittien

}}

Mapania caudata is a species of plant in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. It is found throughout the Peninsular Malaysia, but particularly on the east side. Its natural habitat is shady, moist microclimates in tropical understory. Like several other shady understory plant species, its leaves display blue iridescence. The mechanism was described as resulting from silica nanoparticles in microfibrillar layers stacked into helicoidal structures, appearing on the adaxial epidermal surface, with the iridescence from cell surfaces being left-circularly polarized.{{Cite journal |last1=Strout |first1=Greg |last2=Russell |first2=Scott D. |last3=Pulsifer |first3=Drew P. |last4=Erten |first4=Sema |last5=Lakhtakia |first5=Akhlesh |last6=Lee |first6=David W. |date=October 2013 |title=Silica nanoparticles aid in structural leaf coloration in the Malaysian tropical rainforest understorey herb Mapania caudata |journal=Annals of Botany |language=en |volume=112 |issue=6 |pages=1141–1148 |doi=10.1093/aob/mct172 |issn=1095-8290 |pmc=3783236 |pmid=23960046}}