234 ERIOCAULACEAE 



ellipsoidal, 1.5-2.5 cm. long: lateral sepals conspicnonsly exserted, 5-8 mm. long; wing 

 crested witli short erect segments from about the middle : corolla yellow. 

 In shallow water, Georgia to Florida and Louisiana. Suromer. 



17. Xyris finibriata Ell. Perennial, not lustrous. Leaves linear, 3-5 dm. long, 

 smooth : scapes erect, solitary or tufted, 6-12 dm. tall, roughisli, and 2-edged above : 

 spikes ovoid to oblong, 1.5-2.5 cm. long : lateral sepals exserted, 7-9 nmi. long, relatively 

 broad ; wing crested with long spreading segments from about the middle to the apex : 

 corolla yellow. 



In swamps or boggy places, New Jersey to Florida and Mississippi. Summer and fall. 



18. Xyris arenicola Small. Perennial by bulb-like bases. Leaves linear, with dark 

 dilated base, 1-4 dm. long, usually spirally twisted : scapes often tufted, 3-7 dm. tall, 

 somewhat ilattened above, spirally twisted or spiral : spikes cylindric or conic-oblong, 1.5- 

 3 cm. long, often acute : lateral sepals exserted, 8-12 mm. long ; fringe of the wing firm : 

 corolla yellow. [X. torta Kunth, n^t J. E. Smith.] 



In wet or dry sand, New Jersey and Arkansas, to Florida and Texas. Spring to fall. 



19. Xyris pallescens (C. Mohr) Small. Perennial by bulb-like bases. Leaves few 

 in a set accompanied by the persistent purple or brown bases of previous years, narrowly 

 linear, 2-4 dm. long, spirally twisted : scapes solitary or few together, 3-6 dm. tall, spirally 

 twisted, 2-edged above : spikes oblong or conic-oblong, 1-1.5 cm. long : lateral sepals 6.5-9 

 mm. long, very delicate, narrow ; fringe of the wing delicate : corolla white. 



In low pine lands. Georgia and Florida. Spring. 



20. Xyris Bald^viniana R. & S. Perennial. Leaves numerous, filiform, terete, 

 0.5-2 dm. long, becoming twisted : scapes slender, 2-4 dm. tall, 1 -angled or nearly terete, 

 smooth : spikes ovoid or snbglobose, 4-6 mm. long, turbinate at the base : lateral sepals 

 exserted, 4-6 mm. long, the upper half of the keel-wing serrate : sterile filaments glabrous. 



In grassy or swampy pine lands, North Carolina to Florida and Texas. Summer and fall. 



Family 3. ERIOCAULACEAE Lindl. Pipewort Family. 



Perennial and perhaps rarely annual, mostly acaulescent bog or aquatic herbs. 

 Leaves clustered, often very densely so. Scapes simple, subtended by sheathing 

 bracts. FloAvers monoecious (androgynous), or rarely dioecious, densely crowded 

 in a terminal iuvolucrate head : each flower is subtended bv a minute bractlet. 

 Perianth in 2 series (the inner rarely obsolete). Staminate flowers with 2-3 

 sepals, and 2-3 petals : stamens as many as the sepals or twice as many. Pistil- 

 late flowers with 2-3 sepals and ])etals : ovary 2-3-celled : stjdes 2-3. Ovules 

 solitary in each cavity, orthotropous. Fruit a loculicidally 2-3-valved capsule. 

 Seeds pendulous, each with a minute embryo at the apex of the mealy endo- 

 sperm. 



stamens 2 or 3, as many as the sepals : petals glandless. 



Petals of the pistillate flowers obsolete. 1. L.vchnocaulon. 



Petals of the pistillate flowers resembling the sepals and united at the middle. 2. Syngonanthus. 



Stamens 4-6, twice as many as the sepals : petals each bearing a prominent gland. 3. Eriocaulon. 



1. LACHNOCAULON Kunth. 

 Scapose herbs. Leaves basal : blades narrow, usually crowded. Scapes usually tufted, 

 ridged. Flowers androgynous. Staminate flowers : sepals 3 ; petals obsolete ; stamens 3 ; 

 filaments united below, coalescent with a rudimentary corolla or pistil, this with 3 lobes 

 at the top ; anthers 1-celled. Pistillate flowers : sepals 3 ; petals obsolete ; styles united 

 below, the usually 3 divisions 2-cleft. Capsule delicate, 2-3-celled. Hairy Pipewort. 



Scapes glabrous. 



(iynoecium S-carpellary : stigmas 3 : bracts of the involucre obtuse. 



Heads dark brown or black, scarcely, if at all, pubescent: sepals obscurely pubescent near the 



apex. " 1. L. Evyleri. 



Heads white or gray, woolly : sepals copiously ciliate. 



Heads gray, globular at maturity: sepals about 1 mm. long: anther as 



long as the filament. " 2. L. Flondanum. 



Heads white, spheroidal at maturity : sepals about 1.5 mm. long ; anther 



shorter than the filament. 3. L. (ihihrum. 



Gynoecium 2-carpellary : stigmas 2 : bracts of the involucre acute. 4. L. digynum. 



Scapes pubescent. 



Seeds smooth. 5. L. Bei/richinnum. 



Seeds cancellate. 



Bractlets and sepals of the pistillate flowers not ciliate. 6. L. cciliatum. 



Bractlets and sepals of the pistillate flowers ciliate. 



Heads gray or brown-gray, 4 mm. thick or less: seeds oval or ovoid, 0.5 



mm. long. " 7. L. minor. 



Heads white, 5 mm. thick or more : seeds oblong, 0.8 mm. long. 8. L. anceps. 



