CYPERACEAE. 49 



4. Eleocharis atropurpurea (Retz.) Kunth, Enum. 2: 151. 1837. 



Scirpus atropurpureus Retz. Obs. 5: 14. 1789. 

 Heleocharis Sintenisii Boeckl. Cyp. Nov. 1: 16. 1888. 

 Heleocliaris bdhamensis Boeckl. Cyp. Nov. 2: 11. 1890. 



Annual; roots fibrous; culms tufted, very slender, 2-9 cm. high. Upper 

 sheath 1-toothed; spikelet ovoid, many-flowered, subacute, 3-4 mm. long, 2 mm. 

 in diameter or less; scales minute, ovate-oblong, persistent, purple-brown with 

 green midvein and very narrow scarious margins; stamens 2 or 3; style 2-3- 

 cleft; bristles 2-4, fragile, white, minutely downwardly hispid, about as long 

 as the aehene; achene jet black, shining, 0.5 mm. long, smooth, lenticular; 

 tubercle conic, minute, depressed but rather acute, constricted at the base. 



Hog Island, New Providence, Andros, Acklin's Island : Florida ; Cuba ; Porto 

 Rico ; Central and western United States to Central America ; Europe ; Asia. 

 Referred by Clarke to E. camptotricha Schiceinitzii Clarke, citing Northrop 524 b, 

 from Conch Sound, Andros, but that has trigonous achenes, proliferous spikelets 

 and is the same as E. prolifcra Torr., its older name. Our specimen of this 

 number has lenticular achenes ; it is possible that two species were distributed under 

 the same number. Mrs. Northrop's no. 745, indicated on her label as the same as 

 524 b, was determined by Mr. Clarke as E. atropurpurea. Purple Spike-rush. 



5. Eleocharis capitata (L.) R. Br. Prodr. 225. 1810. 



Scirpus capitatns L. Sp. PI. 48. 1753. 



Annual; roots fibrxms; culms densely tufted, nearly terete, almost filiform, 

 5-25 cm. tall. Upper sheath 1-toothed; spikelet ovoid, obtuse, much thicker 

 than the culm, 3-5 mm. long, 2-3 mm. thick, many-flowered; scales broadly 

 ovate, obtuse, firm, pale or dark brown with a greenish midvein, narrowly 

 searious-margined, persistent; stamens mostly 2; style 2-cleft; bristles 5-8, 

 slender, downwardly hispid, as long as the achene; achene obovate, jet black, 

 smooth, shining, nearly 1 mm. long; tubercle depressed, apiculate, constricted 

 at the base, very much shorter than the aehene. 



Moist and wet grounds, Great Bahama, and Andros to Crooked Island, North 

 Caicos and Inagua : United States ; Bermuda ; West Indies ; tropical continental 

 America ; Old World tropics. Capitate Spike-rush. 



3. STENOPHYLLUS Raf. Neog. 4. 1825. 



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

 narrowly linear or filiform, with eiliate or pubescent sheaths. Spikelets um- 

 bellate, capitate or solitary, usually subtended by a 1-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 aehene 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. Type species: 

 Scirpus stenophyllus Ell. 



1. Stenophyllus Wilsoni Britton, Torreya 13: 215. 1913. 



Perennial by short stout rootstocks; culms clustered, somewhat flattened, 

 smooth, stiff, but rather slender, erect, 2-3 dm. tall. Basal sheaths 3 or 4, 

 bladeless, acute, many-nerved, floccose-pubescent, the upper with a scarious 

 margin; spikelets 2-5 together, in a terminal capitate cluster subtended by a 

 subulate bract 0.5-2 cm. long, or sometimes by 2 bracts, linear-oblong, much 

 compressed, 1-2 cm. long, 4 mm. wide; scales narrowly oblong to oblong- 

 lanceolate, loosely pubescent, eiliate, light brown, membranous, obtusish, 5 

 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, the midvein prominent; stamens 3; style 3-cleft, the 



