BULLETIN 
OF THE 
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 
Vol. XVIII New York, December 9, 1891. (No. 12. 
Notes on the North American Species of Eriocaulez. 
By THomas Moronc. 
This order is sparsely represented in North America, consist- 
ing in fact only of a few outlying members ofa tropical family. 
A single species only is found as far north as Canada, the greater 
number occurring in the warm sections of the United States. 
The genus Lachnocaulon, however, is endemic in our country, 
and therefore has a special interest for us. The great bulk of the 
family is confined to South America, where three-quarters of the 
three hundred and twenty-five species embraced in it occur. Our 
own species have been imperfectly investigated and poorly de- 
fined, and for this reason the present paper has been prepared in 
the hope that something may be contributed towards a better 
understanding of their characters and geographical distribution. 
In general aspect these plants may be easily recognized, being 
very peculiar. The flowers are androgynous or dicecious and 
_ contained in more or less hemispherical heads which are enclosed 
by involucral scales as in the Composite. In the place of 
growth they favor swampy grounds or shallow water, but a 
few grow in low sandy barrens or fields. In mode of growth 
they are cespitose, and new tufts of leaves are added year 
by year to the stock so that in time quite a little colony is col- 
lected about the same caudex, from which scapes, sometimes 
very numerous, are annually sent up. The scapes are nearly 
always twisted in the growth, and always marked longitudinally 
by angles, which are frequently interrupted by intermediate 
ridges or striz: As these intermediate ridges are often partial, 
the number of angles assigned to a scape will vary with the point 
