258 



CYPERACEAE 



6. Cyperus acuminatus Torr. & Hook. 

 Short-pointed Cyperus. Fig. 613. 



Cxpertis acinninatus Torr. & Hook. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 435. 

 1836. 



Annual; culms very slender, tufted, 7-40 cm. tall. 

 Leaves light green, usually less than 2 mm. wide, 

 those of the involucre much elongated; umbel 1-4- 

 rayed, simple ; rays short ; spikelets flat, ovate-oblong, 

 obtuse, 4-8 mm. long, many-flowered, densely capi- 

 tate; scales oblong; pale green, 3-nerved, coarsely 

 cellular, conduplicate, with a short, sharp, more or 

 less recurved tip ; stamen 1 ; style 3-cleft ; achene 

 sharply 3-angled, gray, oblong, narrowed at each end, 

 about one-half as long as the scale. 



In moist soil. Upper Sonoran Zone; Tulare County, Cali- 

 fornia, to Washington; Texas to Georgia, South Dakota and 

 Illinois. Type locality^ St. Louis, Missouri. 



7. Cyperus parishii Britton. 

 Parish's Cyperus. Fig". 614. 



Cyperus parishii Britton; Parish, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 3: 52. 1904. 



Annual with fibrous roots, or perhaps of longer duration; 

 culms tufted, 1-2.5 dm. high. Leaives 2-5 mm. wide, mostly 

 shorter than the culm, those of the involucre 5 or fewer, the 

 longer ones exceeding the inflorescence; umbel simple or some- 

 what compound, usually several-rayed, the rays 0.5-5 cm. long; 

 spikelets several or many, rather densely short-spicate, linear, 

 acute, 12-20 mm. long, about 2 mm. wide; rachis wingless; scales 

 oblong-lanceolate, purple-green, obtuse, about 2 mm. long, several- 

 nerved ; achene trigonous, oblong or obovoid-oblong, nearly black, 

 mucronulate. 



Wet meadows, Sonoran Zones; San Bernardino County, California, to 

 Arizona and New Mexico. Related to C. sphacelatus Rottb. of tropical 

 America. Type locality: vicinity of San Bernardino, California. 



8. Cyperus biishii Britton. 

 Bush's Cyperus. Fig. 615. 



Cyperus bushii Britton, Man. 1044. 1901. 



Perennial by small tuber-like corms. 

 Leaves 3-4 mm. wide, smooth ; scapes 

 smooth, 3-6 dm. high, longer than the 

 leaves ; longer involucral leaves much ex- 

 ceeding the umbel ; umbel capitate, or with 

 1-5 rays ; spikelets loosely capitate, fiat, 

 linear, acute, 8-16 mm. long; scales firm, 

 shining, oblong, mucronate, strongly about 

 11-nerved; achene oblong, 3-angled. nearly 

 twice as long as thick, apiculate, two-thirds 

 as long as the scale. 



Moist soil along streams. Transition Zone; 

 Oregon and Washingrton, east to Minnesota, Colo- 

 rado and Texas. Has been referred to C. Hough- 

 toni Torr. and to C. Schweinitzii Torr., and con- 

 fused with C. filictdmis Vahl. Type locality: Ar- 

 kansas, Oklahoma. 



