54 



CYPERACEAE. 



1. Mariscus jamai- 

 censis (Crantz) Britton. 

 SAW-GRASS. PRICKLY 

 SEDGE. (Fig. 83.) Culm 

 stout, 3-9 high, ob- 

 tusely 3-angled. Leaves 

 very long, glabrous, 3"- 

 10" wide, the margins 

 spinulose-serrulate ; um- 

 bels several or numerous, 

 decompound, forming a 

 large panicle ; spikelets 

 mostly 2-5 together at 

 the ends of the raylets, 

 narrowly ovoid, acute, 

 2"-2J" long; uppermost 

 scale subtending a per- 

 fect flower; stamens 2; 

 achene ovoid, abruptly 

 sharp-pointed, wrinkled, 

 narrowed to the base, 1" 

 long. [Cladium jamai- 

 cense Crantz; C. occi- 

 dentale Schrad. ; C. Ma- 

 riscus of Hemsley and of 

 IT. B. Small.] 



Common in marshes. Native. Southern United States, West Indies and tropical 

 continental America. Flowers in summer and autumn. This is the largest sedge 

 of the Bermuda flora and the only one with serrate-margined leaves. It covers 

 large areas in some of the marshes, forming dense masses of vegetation. 



9. CABEX L. 



Grass-like sedges, perennial by rootstocks. Culms mostly 3-angled. Leaves 

 3-ranked, the upper elongated or very short (bracts) and subtending the spikes 

 of flowers, or wanting. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, solitary in the axils of 

 bracts (scales). Spikes either wholly pistillate, wholly staminate, or bearing 

 both staminate and pistillate flowers (androgynous). Perianth none. Stami- 

 nate flowers of 3 stamens, the filaments filiform. Pistillate flowers of a single 

 pistil with a style and 2 or 3 stigmas, borne on a very short axis in the axil of 

 a sac-like bractlet or second bract called the perigynium (utricle), which com- 

 pletely encloses the achene. Achene 3-angled, lenticular or plano-convex. A 

 vast genus, of more than 1000 species, widely distributed, most abundant in the 

 temperate zones. Type species: Car ex pulicaris L. 



Spikes sessile with few staminate flowers at their bases ; styles 2. 1. C. albolutescens. 

 Lower spikes filiform-stalked, pistillate, the upper staminate ; 



styles 3. 2. C. bermudiana. 



