GENUS 3. 



SEDGE FAMILY 



25. Eleocharis rostellata Torr. Beaked 

 Spike-rush. Fig. 782. 



Scirpus rostcllatus Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3 : 318. 1836. 

 Eleocharis rostellata Torr. Fl. N. Y. 2 : 347. 1843. 



Perennial by a short caudex, culms slender, 

 flattened, wiry, the fertile erect or ascending, the 

 sterile reclining and rooting at the summit, grooved, 

 i-5 long. Upper sheath truncate; spikelet oblong, 

 narrowed at both ends, thicker than the culm, 

 io-2O-flo\vered, 3"-6" long, about i" in diameter; 

 scales ovate, obtuse or the upper acute, green with a 

 somewhat darker midvein, their margins slightly 

 scarious ; bristles 4-8, retrorsely barbed, longer than 

 the achene and tubercle ; stamens 3 ; style 3-clef t ; 

 achene oblong-obovoid, obtusely 3-angled, its surface 

 finely reticulated; tubercle conic-subulate, about one- 

 half as long as the achene or shorter, capping its 

 summit, partly or entirely falling away at maturity. 



In marshes and wet meadows, New Hampshire, Ver- 

 mont and New York to British Columbia, Florida, Texas, 

 Mexico and California. Also in Cuba. Aug.-Sept. 



4. STENOPHYLLUS Raf. Neog. 4. 1825. 



Mostly annual sedges, with slender erect culms, leafy below, the leaves narrowly linear 

 or filiform, with ciliate or pubescent sheaths. Spikelets umbellate, capitate or solitary, sub- 

 tended by a i-several-leaved involucre, their scales spirally imbricated all around, mostly 

 deciduous. Flowers perfect. Perianth none. Stamens 2 or 3. Style 2-3-cleft, glabrous, 

 its base much swollen and persistent as a tubercle on the achene as in Eleocharis. Achene 

 3-angled, turgid or lenticular. [Greek, referring to the narrow leaves.] 



A genus of some 90 species, natives of temperate and warm regions. Besides the following, 6 

 others occur in the southern United States. Type species : Scirpus stenophyllus Ell. 



i. Stenophyllus capillaris (L.) Britton. 

 Hair-like Stenophyllus. Fig. 783. 



Scirpus capillaris L. Sp. PI. 49. 1753. 

 Fimbristylis capillaris A. Gray, Man. 530. 1848. 

 Stenophyllus capillaris Britton, Bull. Torr. Club 

 21 : 30. 1894. 



Annual, roots fibrous, culms filiform, densely 

 tufted, erect, grooved, smooth, 2'-io' tall. 

 Leaves filiform, roughish, much shorter than 

 the culm, their sheaths more or less pubescent 

 with long hairs ; involucral leaves 1-3, seta- 

 ceous, shorter than, or one of them exceeding 

 the inflorescence ; spikelets narrowly oblong, 

 somewhat 4-sided, 2i"-4" long, less than i" 

 thick, several in a terminal simple or compound, 

 sometimes capitate, umbel, or in depauperate 

 forms solitary ; scales oblong, obtuse or emar- 

 ginate, puberulent, dark brown with a green 

 keel ; stamens 2 ; style 3-cleft ; achene yellow- 

 brown, narrowed at the base, very obtuse or 

 truncate at the summit, i" long, 3-angled, trans- 

 versely wrinkled ; tubercle minute, depressed. 



In dry or moist soil, Maine to southern Ontario, 

 Minnesota, Florida, Texas, California and tropical 

 America. July-Sept. 



5. FIMBRISTYLIS Vahl, Entim. 2 : 285. 1806. 



Annual or perennial sedges. Culms leafy below. Spikelets umbellate or capitate, 

 terete, several to many-flowered, subtended by a i-many-leaved involucre, their scales spirally 

 imbricated all around, mostly deciduous, all fertile. Perianth none. Stamens 1-3. Style 

 2-3-cleft, pubescent or glabrous, its base much enlarged, falling away from the summit of 

 the achene at maturity. Achene lenticular, biconvex, or 3-angled, reticulated, cancellate, or 

 longitudinally ribbed or striate in our species. [Greek, in allusion to the fringed style of 

 some species.] 



