KVlXiNGiA HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. 433 



of the other; the other shorter, narrnwer; the stamens are three nwl-shape:!, fi;it 

 filaments, with lipfar, erect, anthers; the pistiHias an ob-ovate germ, tiatteiied, 

 gibbous on one edge ; style filiibrm ; stigmas two or three, capillary; there is no 

 pericarp, the jilimies of the corolla preserving the seed till ripe; seed oblong, 

 'three-sided, destitute of villi. Tiirce species are natives of Jania.ca. 



1. MONOCEPHALA. ONE-HEADF.D. 



Minimus pralen.tis panicido stricto singulari, foliis invohicri levnis. 

 Browne, p. 127. 



Culm filiform, three-sided ; head glohular sessile ; involucre thrce-Ieaved, very 

 long. 



The stem rises a foot high, three-sided, strict, grooved ; leaves the length of the 

 culm, linear, keeled, even, sheathing at the base. Involucre three-leaved; upper 

 leaflet upright, long ; lateral ones Horizontal ; one of them three or four tnnes shorter 

 than the rest, ciliate at the edge. Head glomerate, roundish ; spikelets very many, 

 ovate, acuininaie, coiupress'id, greeiu Glumes one-flowered, only bivalve; valves 

 avmless, scarcely unequal, one a little larger, ovate-acute, keeled ; filaments one, 

 two, or three, ovate, thickish ; antuers linear, upright, not versatile, X^llow; genu 

 roundish, compressed; style cloven m the middle ; stigmas simple, reflex ; seed com- 

 pressed, involved in tlie permanent ylume. Sw. 



Browne calls this the smai; cj/perus, with a simple head ; found in the lowlands, and 

 seldom rising more than four or Ave inches from the root. 



2. TRICEPS. THREE-HEADED. 



'Gramen cyperoide.s minus, spica cowpacta suirohinda viridi, radice 

 odorata. Sloane, y. 1, p. 119, t. 78, f. 2. Humilior Joliis invo- 

 hicri atbo longitudinalitcr, fasciatis. Browne, p, 12. 

 Heads terminating in threes, or thereahouts, glomerate, sessile. 

 Culm half a foot high, commonly decumbent at the base, naked, three-cornered; 

 leaves radical, shorter than the culm, sheathing, linear, keeled, smooth ; involucre 

 three-leaved, terminating; leaflets linear-lanceolate, keeled, minutely serrate; one 



superior, shoit. Heads three or four, sessile, one in the middle, oblong, larger. 



Spikelets clustered, not imbricate; glumes two, the outer ones very minute; two 

 inner larger, one-flowered; valves equal, ovate, acute, keeled, white at the edge; 

 two white bristles within the keel of the valves ; filaments three, very short, with yel- 

 low anthers ; germ compressed, style bifld, stigmas reflex ; seed compressed, shinin"-. 

 It is frequent in moist meadows in Jamaica. Sw. Browne calls it ttie varicoatcd 

 grassy cyperus. Sloane says the under parts of the leaves are reddish, and that the 

 root is very odoriferous. 



3. FILIFORMIS. FIUFORM. 



.Umbel terminating, simple; spikes sessile and peduncled, ovate; spikeletS 

 ,ovate-acute ; ii^volucre three-leaved, partial none. 



K k k 2 LACE 



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