1	"Inflorescence head-like or consisting of only 1–5 spikelets in 1 or 2 small clusters"	2
1	"Inflorescence elongated, with spikelets clustered at several often distant nodes"	19
2	"Small, soft-textured leafy, tufted annuals, or small, mat-forming or decumbent perennials, or submerged aquatics; if erect, culms no more than 12 cm long; mouth of leaf-sheath and margins of glumes always glabrous"	3
2	"Erect perennials, ± rigid, shortly rhizomatous or tufted; culms mostly more than 12 cm high, if less then mouth of leaf-sheath and/or margins of glumes hairy"	13
3	"Fertile glumes 5–9 mm long"	4
3	"Fertile glumes less than 5 mm long"	7
4	"Submerged aquatic or occasionally small, tufted plant on margins of water; nut smooth or minutely reticulate"	"Schoenus fluitans"
4	"Dryland tufted or very shortly rhizomatous plants; nut not smooth"	5
5	"Inflorescence head-like; plants annual, forming small tufts; nut reticulate-pitted to trabeculate, glabrous"	"Schoenus apogon"
5	"Inflorescence of 1–3 spikelets"	6
6	"Perennial, very shortly rhizomatous, forming low, deep-rooted tussocks or mats; nut transversely wrinkled, pubescent near apex"	"Schoenus breviculmis"
6	"Annual, tufted; nut reticulate-pitted, glabrous"	"Schoenus latelaminatus"
7	"Tufted annuals"	8
7	"Small mat-forming or decumbent perennials"	11
8	"Hypogynous bristles absent or several, minute"	9
8	"Hypogynous bristles 5 or 6, from shorter than nut to slightly exceeding it (nut faces evenly trabeculate or reticulate)"	10
9	"Nut faces reticulate-pitted"	"Schoenus latelaminatus"
9	"Nut faces with 2 central columns of large pits and laterally smooth or minutely trabeculate"	"Schoenus sculptus"
10	"Anthers 1.0–3.2 mm long; nut reticulate-pitted to trabeculate; glumes red-brown to blackish"	"Schoenus apogon"
10	"Anthers 0.5–0.8 mm long; nut coarsely and strongly reticulate; glumes straw-coloured to dark red-brown"	"Schoenus nanus"
11	"Leaves much exceeding culms; culms erect, no more than 2.5 cm long; damp alpine and subalpine sites"	"Schoenus calyptratus"
11	"Leaves shorter than culms; culms erect or decumbent, usually more than 3 cm long; plants of lowlands or margins of mountain streams, but never alpine"	12
12	"Anthers 0.8–1.0 mm long; hypogynous bristles 3–6, not plumose, shorter than nut; culms decumbent, leafy at nodes"	"Schoenus maschalinus"
12	"Anthers 1.5–1.7 mm long; hypogynous bristles 6, plumose, about as long as nut; culms erect, nodeless"	"Schoenus nitens"
13	"Inflorescence a single spikelet"	14
13	"Inflorescence a head-like cluster of spikelets (rarely a second smaller cluster in S. ericetorum)"	16
14	"Mouth of leaf-sheath ciliate or woolly"	"Schoenus deformis"
14	"Mouth of leaf-sheath glabrous"	15
15	"Spikelet 8–22 mm long; fertile glumes 8–16 mm long; hypogynous bristles scale-like"	"Schoenus lepidosperma"
15	"Spikelet 3–5 mm long; fertile glumes 2.7–4 mm long; hypogynous bristles plumose"	"Schoenus nitens"
16	"Involucral bracts at least twice as long as inflorescence, to 8 cm long"	"Schoenus nitens"
16	"Involucral bracts less than twice as long as inflorescence (often shorter than it), to 2.5 cm long"	17
17	"Stamens 4–6; nut 1.9–2.5 mm long"	"Schoenus subaphyllus"
17	"Stamens 3; nut 1.3–1.5 mm long"	18
18	"Mouth of leaf-sheath long-ciliate; glumes 6–11, lowest 4–8 empty"	"Schoenus ericetorum"
18	"Mouth of leaf-sheath glabrous or sparsely and minutely ciliolate; glumes 5–7,lowest 3–5 empty"	"Schoenus imberbis"
19	"Small, soft-textured leafy, tufted annuals, or small, mat-forming or decumbent perennials; if erect, culms no more than 10 cm long"	20
19	"Rigid, erect perennials (or S. apogon annual), shortly rhizomatous or tufted; culms mostly 10–125 cm high, if less then culms scabrous (S. moorei) or leaves very numerous and filiform (S. tesquorum)"	23
20	"Decumbent or loosely mat-forming slender perennial; nut surface faintly pitted or reticulate or smooth"	"Schoenus maschalinus"
20	"Erect, tufted annuals; nut surface pitted, reticulate, or trabeculate"	21
21	"Anthers 0.5–0.7 mm long; nut faces with 2 central columns of large pits, laterally smooth or trabeculate"	"Schoenus sculptus"
21	"Anthers 1.0–3.7 mm long; nut faces evenly reticulate-pitted or trabeculate"	22
22	"Hypogynous bristles 5 or 6, setaceous, shorter than or equalling nut; inflorescence with a head-like cluster of 6–16 spikelets at uppermost node with 1–4 smaller clusters below; glumes red-brown to blackish"	"Schoenus apogon"
22	"Hypogynous bristles absent or several, minute; inflorescence with 2–4 distant clusters of 1–5 spikelets; glumes straw-coloured to red-brown"	"Schoenus latelaminatus"
23	"Leaves obvious, leaf-blades well-developed, to 30 cm long"	24
23	"Leaves not obvious, leaf-blades to 3 cm long or reduced to small bracts on sheaths"	26
24	"Nut transversely wrinkled, hairy; culms scabrous; possibly not in Victoria, see note under genus description"	"Schoenus moorei"
24	"Nut smooth or minutely pitted-reticulate or longitudinally striate and trabeculate, glabrous; culms smooth"	25
25	"Annual, leafy but without numerous filiform leaves at base; hypogynous bristles 5 or 6, shorter than to equalling nut"	"Schoenus apogon"
25	"Perennial, with numerous filiform leaves at base of plant; hypogynous bristles several minute or absent"	"Schoenus tesquorum"
26	"Mouth of leaf-sheath villous or woolly"	27
26	"Mouth of leaf-sheath glabrous"	28
27	"Leaf-sheaths very dark red-brown to black, minutely scabrous; glumes 7–11 per spikelet"	"Schoenus melanostachys"
27	"Leaf-sheaths yellow-brown to red-brown, smooth; glumes 4–6 per spikelet"	"Schoenus racemosus"
28	"Glumes glabrous; nut smooth to faintly reticulate, white to grey"	"Schoenus carsei"
28	"Glumes ciliate or woolly at least near apex; nut papillose or wrinkled, red-brown"	29
29	"Glumes 7–9 per spikelet; fertile glumes 7–10 mm long; nut wrinkled; mouth of leaf-sheath with margins not overlapping"	"Schoenus brevifolius"
29	"Glumes 5 or 6 per spikelet; fertile glumes 5–7 mm long; nut papillose; mouth of leaf-sheath with margins overlapping"	"Schoenus laevigatus"