lowest ones barren; fertile bracts 6-7 mm. long, broadly obovate to suborbicular, 

 entire, the outer surfaces dark-purplish- or reddish-brown, shining except for a 

 paler-green or gray-green oval or triangular dorsal area; lateral sepals included, 

 linear, about the length of the bracts, castaneous, with a broad lacerate keel; 

 petal blades cuneate, about 3 mm. long, opening in the morning; seeds oblong- 

 fusiform, 0.8-1 mm. long, opaque, dark, farinose, the regularly arranged longi- 

 tudinal lines obscured by the farina. 



Wet sands but more commonly wet sandy clay, sandy peat, peat muck or 

 alluvium of stream banks, cypress swamps, marshes or pineland pond margins 

 with the bases commonly submersed, e. Tex., July-Sept.; in Coastal Plain from 

 s.e. Va. s. to n. Fla. and w. to Tex. 



7. Xyris Jupicai Rich. Fig. 300. 



Short-lived perennial, solitary or in small tufts, dying completely after one 

 year from seed or perennating from bulbous lateral over-wintering buds; leaves 

 linear. 1-6 dm. long, 5-10 mm. broad, ascending, lustrous, yellow-green, pale or 

 stramineous toward the base; sheaths of the scape shorter than the principal leaves, 

 somewhat loose toward the oblique orifice which terminates in a short cusplike 

 blade; scapes 2-7 (-9) dm. long, terete and many-ridged below, becoming some- 

 what flattened and narrower and usually one- or two-edged above; spikes at 

 seeding time ovoid to ellipsoidal or oblong, 5-15 mm. long, of numerous rather 

 loosely imbricated bracts; fertile bracts obovate to oval, 5-7 mm. long, the 

 exposed margins subentire, the outer surface pale- to dark-brown and dull, the 

 dorsal area rectangular to elliptic and green or brownish on old spikes; lateral 

 sepals included, about the length of the bracts, linear and slightly curvate, the 

 thin wings broad, the somewhat thicker keel lacerate for the upper two thirds 

 or one half its length; petal blades cuneate, about 3 mm. long, opening in the 

 morning; seeds broadly ellipsoidal, 4-5 mm. long, the longitudinal ribs numerous 

 but faint, cross lines not evident. 



Wet sands or sandy peat or alluvium of roadside ditches, flatwoods, pond 

 margins, cypress swamps and lake shores, but particularly in mechanically dis- 

 turbed wet lands in e. Tex., June -Aug.; in Coastal Plain from N. J. s. to Fla. 

 and w. to Tex. and Ark. 



8. Xyris difformis Chapm. 



Solitary or in small tufts, the soft pinkish or purplish (rarely greenish) bases 

 rooted on wet sand or muck; principal leaves broadly linear or linear-elliptic, 1-5 

 dm. long, 5-15 mm. broad, usually flabellate-spreading, dark and lustrous-green 

 but toward the bases becoming pinkish, purplish or reddish, apex acute and 

 slightly incurved, the surface smooth, the margin above the equitant portion 

 usually papillose or rarely smooth; sheaths of the scapes shorter than most of the 

 leaves, thin, tight except at the slightly loosened oblique orifice whose upper 

 margin converges to a short cusplike blade; scape linear, 15-70 cm. long, terete, 

 brownish and twisted below, straightening and becoming deep-green and oval in 

 cross section above with 2 prominent broad thin ridges whose combined breadth 

 is at least equal to that of the scape and whose margins are papillose; spikes at 

 seed-bearing time ovoid, about 1 cm. long, acute, dark, of many usually tightly 

 imbricated bracts of which the lower few are barren; fertile bracts 5-7 mm. 

 long, obovate to oval, not keeled, the apex rounded and subentire, the outer 

 surface usually deep-brown, lustrous, the dorsal area greenish or gray-green, rec- 

 tangular to round or elliptic; lateral sepals included, about the length of the 

 bracts, the broad wings thin and pale-brown, the keel slightly thicker and darker 

 with its margin jagged from about the middle to the apex; petal blades cuneate, 

 about 4 mm. long or less, unfolding in the morning; seeds broadly ellipsoidal, 



587 



