56 CYPEEACEAE. 



8. Rynchospora marisculus Lindl. & Nees; Mart. Fl. Bras. 2 1 : 142. 1842. 



Rynchospora jubata Liebm. Yidensk. Selsk. Skr. V. 2: 254. 1851. 



Perennial by rootstoeks, glabrous. Culm rather slender, 0.5-1 m. long. 

 Leaves 2-5 dm. long, 7 mm. wide or less; corymbs usually several, distant, or 

 the upper ones approximate, dense, the lower slender-stalked, nodding; spike- 

 lets numerous, clustered, narrowly ellipsoid, acute, 5-7 mm. long; scales brown, 

 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute, from 1 to 3 of them subtending achenes; 

 bristles 6 or 7, longer than the aehene, scabrous above, pilose at the base; 

 style 2-eleft at the apex; aehene short-stipitate, obovate, transversely undulate, 

 1.5-2 mm. long; tubercle flat-conic, acute, about one-half as long as the aehene. 



Moist grounds, New Providence : Cuba ; Haiti ; Jamaica ; tropical continental 

 America. Loxu Beaked-rush. 



9. MARISCUS (Hall.) Zinn, Cat. Hort. Goett. 79. 1757. 



Perennial leafy sedges, similar to large Bynchosporas, the spikelets oblong 

 or fusiform, few-flowered, variously clustered. Scales imbricated all around, 

 the lower empty, the middle ones mostly subtending imperfect flowers, the 

 upper usually fertile. Perianth none. Stamens 2 or sometimes 3. Style 2-3- 

 cleft, deciduous from the summit of the aehene, its branches sometimes 2-3- 

 parted. Aehene ovoid to globose, smooth or longitudinally striate. Tubercle 

 none. [Greek, referring to the branched inflorescence of some species.] 

 About 40 species, natives of tropical and temperate regions. Type 3pecies: 

 Schoenus Mariscus L. 



1. Mariscus jamaicensis (Crantz) Britton in Britton & Brown, 111. Fl. ed. 2, 

 1:348. 1913. 



Cladium jamaicense Crantz, Inst. 1: 362. 1766. 

 Cladium occidentale Schrad. Fl. Germ. 1: 76. 1806. 



Culm stout, 1.5-3 m. high, obtusely 3-angled. Leaves very long, glabrous, 

 6-20 mm., wide, the margins spinulose-serrulate ; umbels several or numerous, 

 decompound, forming a large panicle; spikelets mostly 2-5 together at the 

 ends of the raylets, narrowly ovoid, acute, 4-5 mm. long; uppermost scale sub- 

 tending a perfect flower; stamens 2; aehene ovoid, abruptly sharp-pointed, 

 wrinkled, narrowed to the base, 2 mm. long. 



Marshes, Abaco. South Bimini, Andros and New Providence to Crooked Island 

 and Inagua : southern United States ; Bermuda : Jamaica ; Cuba to Porto Rico ; 

 Guadaloupe to Grenada ; Mexico. Erroneously recorded by C. B. Clarke as Lageno- 

 carpus guianensis Nees, and by Hitchcock as Cladium mariscus (L.) R. Br. Saw 

 Grass. 



10. SCHOENUS L. Sp. PI. 42. 1753. 



Perennial sedges, with stiff, tufted culms, basal, narrow or semiterete 

 leaves, the 1-few-flowered spikelets clustered, capitate or paniculate, the 

 clusters subtended by 1 bract or few. Scales imbricated in 2 series, the lower 

 ones empty the upper subtending flowers. Perianth of 3-6, scabrous or plu- 

 mose bristles. Stamens 3. Style slender, scarcely enlarged at the base, 3- 

 cleft, deciduous. Aehene trigonous; tubercle none. [Greek, a rush.] Sixty 

 species or more, mostly natives of the Old World, the following typical. 



