!04 HOItTUS JAMAICENSIS. ^os 



strbtcd !oTieit'.iciinally, rigid ; sheaths ancijiital, finely striated. Panidcs bursting 

 from anripital- lanceolate covered sheaths, tiubdivided into (hcliotomous sub-fastigiate 

 diffused branchlets, having sheathlets underneath at all the divisions, of a red ferrugin- 

 ous colour. Spii^elets solitary, or in pairs, sessile, two- flowered, polygamous, on 

 prickly serrate peduncles. Glumes four-valved, two-flowered; valves decussated^ 

 ovate, acute, concave, slightly keele!, spmetnnes serrate, brown; there are no fda- 

 ments ; the germ is three cornered, style oblong, tiifid at top ; stigmas cirrhose. 

 Serrate bristles are placed upon the pistil. One of the florets is small, interior, and 

 two-valved ; tiie valves equal and lanceolate ; the filaments two or three, and minute ; 

 the pistil small. Tais is considered a singular species, and probably making a distinct 

 geuus, were the characters well ascertained. 



3. I.ADIUM. 



'Cuhno nmoso^ ftoribtis quasi umbellatis, umhellis gradathn assiirgen^ 

 fibiis. Browne, p. 114. 



'Culm bluntly three-sided, leafy, even; leaves pricklv in front, panicles-dif- 

 fused ; spikelets one-flowered, sessile, two-stamened. 



Culm eight or ten feet high, single, jointed, smooth, striated ; leaves sheathing, 

 very long, keeled, half an inch wide, cartilaginovis-serrate along the back and edge, 

 striated, smooth, rigid ; sheaths closed in front, serrate : flowers in lateral panicles 

 fr.:)m the sheadis ; j^edunctes solitary, short, compressed, sheathed ; sheaths nimier- 

 ous, crowded, alternate, from which spring some ]iartial peduncles, which are elon- 

 gated, loose, diffused ; towards the top next the sheathlet subdivided into many une- 

 qual unibelled pedicels, frequenll}' terminating in an umhellet, with the ultimate pe- 

 dicels three-flowered. Spikelets three or four, ovate, acuminate, small, ferruginous ; 

 glumes or scales oblong, acute, unequal. At the side of the inner glume, surrounding 

 the germ, are capillary bristles the length of the glume; filaments very short ; genu, 

 linear-oblong; style shorter than ihe glumes, trifid ; stigmas reflexed, convolute, 

 permanent; seed ovate, acute, shining browi,. It grows in sea marshes, Sn). 



Browne calls this plant the large Jioriddadiiim. 



4. GLOMERATUS. TIEAPED. 



Culm three-sided, leafy, flowers in bundles ; leaves flat; peduncles lateral, ia 

 pairs. 



5. EFFtTSUS. OVERFLOWING. 



Culm leafy, bluntly three-sided, even ; leaves entirely prickly in front, pani- 

 cles more erect ; spikelets one-flowered, sessile, tvvo-stamened. 

 Swartz gave this as a distinct species, but it resembles the ntanscus, an European 

 species, so nearly, that he hardly thought it could be made a distiuct species. 



6. CYPEROIDES. CYPERUS-LIKE. 



Culm three-sided, leafy ; umbel terminating ; spikelets glomerate. 



Two feet high. Culm striated, smooth ; leaves sheathing, half a foot long, linear, 

 keeled, striated, smooth, with the keel of the val res sub-serrate ; spikes terminating, 

 umbelled ; peduncles, from the sheaths of the terminating leaves, several, unequal, 

 ihree-Sided ; involucre none, but only the two alternate leaflets, from the sheaths of 

 which the pcduuclus rise. Spikelets in little terminating balls (sometimes compound), 



verT 



