312 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVL 



No. XX.XIY.—ELEOCHARIS CONGESTA, DON., IN THE BOMBAY 



PRESIDENCY. 



On the 6th October 1918 while working the marshes below Devarayi 

 Station on the M. S. M. Railway, I came across the above sedge. This is 

 new to tha Presidency and was not included in my account of the Bombay 

 Cyperaoecfi, the second instalment of which (including the genus Eleooharis) 

 is included in this Numbar. This sedge is common on the Nilgiri HiUs. 

 Its occurrence, as well as the occurrence of Kyllimja melanospenna, Nees, 

 (vide p. 700 of the last Number), shows that the marshes in the forest re- 

 gions of Norrh Kanara and South Belgaum are suited to the sedges of the 

 higher Southern Mountains, and further species may be expected in the 

 future. In the clavis to Eleocharis this species follows E, chcetaria, and its 

 description is as foUows : — 



" Tufted, 4-8 inches, stems striate. Uppermost sheath truncate with 

 a email subulate projection from just below the top. Spikelet one, inclined, 

 usually proliferous and viviparous, about \ inch, ovate, acute, dark. Bristles 

 dirty white or pale brown, as long as, or longer than the nut. Style 3-fid ; 

 base very large. 



Rare. Marshes on the crest of the Southern Ghats." 



Another of the rarer Bombay sedges which I found in the same marsh is 

 Fimbristylis acuminata, Vahl. 



L. J. SEDGWICK. 

 DHA.BWAR, October 1918. 



