101 
A New Eleocharis. 
By Charles Wright. 
Eleocharis diandra. — Culms nearly terete (8'-io' high) from 
" 4" 
tufted, fibrous roots, rather slender ; spike ovoid, very obtuse (2 
long); scales numerous (80-120) ovate, rounded at the tip, one-third 
longer than the achenium, imbricated in many rows ; stamens two ; 
achenium cuneate-obovate, pale stramineous becoming castaneous, 
shining, scarcely half a line long; bristles few and short, or mostly 
wanting; tubercle depressed, tranversely oblong, the ends rounded 
and slightly elevated, the top shortly apiculate; style usually bifid. 
On high sand-bars of the Connecticut River, between Hartford 
and Wethersfield, growing in company with E, obtiisa^y^\\\c)(\ it closely 
resembles in appearance. A tabular statement of the differences is 
appended 
Tufts mostly 
Spike 
Scales 
Eleocharis ohtusa^ Shultes. 
larger, annual. 
Stamens 
Bristles 
Achenium 
Tubercle 
Style 
very blunt. 
rounded at top; one- 
third longer than the 
achenium, 
three. 
exceeding the tubercle. 
larger, tapering evenly 
to the base. 
crest-like and thin, 
curved on the lower 
ede^e, which rests its 
whole length on the 
achenium, and is almost 
as broad, the two other 
sides forming about a 
right angle. 
3-cleft, rarely bifid. 
Eleocharis diandra^ n. sp. 
smaller, annual, 
bluntish or acutish. 
narrowed towards the blunt 
apex; twice as long as the 
achenium. 
two. 
i&vf and short or mostly O. 
gmaller, tapering more ab- 
ruptly into a narrower base. 
transversely oblong, its end 
rounded and raised above the 
achenium, and little more 
than half as broad, shortly 
apiculate. 
bifid, rarely 3-cleft. 
The main differences are: first, two stamens, for which m our 
floras there is no generic allowance; secondly, the usually bifid style ; 
thirdly, the tubercle wanting the ctisps which run down the top of the 
achenium of E. obtusa\ and, fourthly, the few small bristles, or mostly 
none at alL 
New or Little-known Ferns of the United States, No. 14, 
By U. C. Eaton. 
53- Phegoptcris reptans, {Polypodimn reptans, Swz.; Aspidium rep- 
la?ts^ Mett.),— Rootstock short, creeping ; stalks clustered, gray- 
stramineous, slender, naked, a few inches to a foot long ; frond as 
long as the stalk, membranaceous, softly hairy with branched or 
stellate hairs, oblong lanceolate, pinnate with nearly or quite sessile 
oblong or sometimes rounded obtuse crenately pinnatifid pmnae, the 
apex pinnatifid and often elongated and rooting; veins pmnate, sim- 
ple, the basal veinlets often anastomosing; sori rather small, seated 
on the middle of the veinlets, naked or with a minute rudiment of 
an indusium. 
