264 



CYPERACEAE 



7. Eleocharis macrostachya Britton. 

 Pale Spike-rush. Fig. 630. 



E. macrostachya Britton; Small, Fl. S. E. U. S. 1S4, 

 1327. 1903. 



Perennial by rootstocks, pale green. Culms 

 tufted, slender or stout, sometimes twisted, 1.3 

 m. higii or less ; spikelet lauceolate-cylindric, 

 about 2.5 cm. long or less, acute, man\ -flowered : 

 scales oblong-ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acute, 

 light green to straw-color, with a somewhat 

 darker midvein ; bristles as long as the achene 

 and tubercle, or shorter, sometimes very short; 

 style 2-cleft; achene obovate, lenticular, 1.5 

 mm. long, brown, the cap-like tubercle small, 

 yellow. 



Moist soil, Upper Sonoran Zone; Amador County, 

 California, to Nevada, Missouri, Louisiana, and Ja- 

 lisco. Type locality: Indian Territory [Oklahoma]. 

 Perhaps better regarded as a race of E. palustris. 



8. Eleocharis acicularis (L.) R. & S. 

 Needle Spike-rush. Fig. 631. 



Scirpus acicularis L. Sp. PI. 48. 1753. 



Eleocharis acicularis R. & S. Syst. 2: 154. 1817. 



E. acicularis miiiiina Torr.; Britton, Journ. N. Y. Mi- 

 cros. Soc. S: 104. 1889. 



E. acicularis radicans Britton, loc. cit. 105. 1889. Prob- 

 ably not Scirpus radicans Poir. 



E. acicularis bella Piper, Fl. Palouse 35. 1901. 



Perennial by filiform stolons or rootstocks; 

 culms tufted, finely filiform or setaceous, obscurely 

 4-angled and grooved, weak, 1-20 cm. long. 

 Sheath truncate; spikelet compressed, narrowly 

 ovate or linear-oblong, acute, 3-10-flowered, 2-6 

 mm. long, 1 mm. wide ; scales oblong, obtuse or 

 the upper subacute, thin, pale green, deciduous, 

 many of them commonly sterile ; bristles 3-4, 

 fragile, fugacious, shorter than the achene ; 

 stamens 3 ; style 3-cleft ; achene obovoid-oblong, 

 pale, obscurely 3-angled with a rib on each angle 

 and 6-9 lower intermediate ribs connected by fine 

 ridges; tubercle conic, acute, one-fourth as long 

 as the achene. 



Moist grounds, Sonoran to Canadian Zones; southern 

 California to British Columbia, east to Missouri, New- 

 Jersey, and Newfoundland. Europe and Asia. Type lo- 

 cality: Europe. Consists of many races, differing in size 

 of the plant, of the spikelet and of the achene. 



9. Eleocharis disciformis Parish. 

 San Jacinto Spike-rush. Fig. 632. 



Eleocharis disciformis Parish, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 3: 81. 1904. 



Annual with fibrous roots and filiform tufted striate culms 10-15 cm. 

 long; upper sheath nearly truncate, 1-toothed. Spikelet linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, 10-15-flowered, 5-10 mm. long, about 1.5 mm. thick; scales ovate, 

 obtuse, about 2 mm. long, brown with a pale midvein; bristles a little 

 longer than the achene and tubercle; achene ovoid, 1 mm. long: tubercle 

 short or depressed, disciform, and abruptly tipped, about one-sixth as long 

 as the achene. 



Known only from the type locality, eastern base of the the San Jacinto Mountains, 

 Lower Sonoran Zone, San Diego County, California. 



