SEDGE FAMILY 



273 



9. Scirpus olneyi A. Gray. 

 Olney's Bulrush. Fig. 654. 



Scirpus oliicyi A. Gray, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. 5: 238. 1845. 



Similar to the preceding species ; culms stout, 

 sharply 3-angled with concave sides, 0.5-2 m. tall. 

 Leaves 1-3, 2-13 cm. long, or sheaths sometimes leaf- 

 less; spikelets capitate in a dense cluster of 5-12, 

 oblong or ovoid-oblong, obtuse, 5-8 mm. long, the 

 involucral leaf short, stout, erect, 1-3 cm. long ; scales 

 oval or orbicular, dark brown with a green midvein, 

 emarginate or mucronulate, glabrous ; bristles usually 

 6, slightly shorter than or equaling the achene, down- 

 wardly barbed; stamens 2-3; style 2-cleft; achene 

 obovate, plano-convex, brown, mucronate. 



Marshes. Sonoran and Transition Zones; Lower Califor- 

 nia to Oregon, mostly near the coast; Arkansas; Michigan; 

 Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from Xew Hampshire to Texas and 

 Mexico; Bermuda; Cuba; Hispaniola; Porto Rico. Type 

 locality: Providence, Rhode Island. 



10. Scirpus nevadensis S. Wats. 

 Nevada Club-rush. 



Fig. 655. 



Scii-pus nevadensis S. Wats. Bot. King's Exped. 360. 1871. 



Perennial by rather stout rootstocks ; culms sometimes clus- 

 tered, slender, erect, subterete, 1.5-4 dm. high. Leaves con- 

 volute, narrowly linear, about 2 min. wide, shorter than the 

 culm, their margins sometimes roughish ; involucral bract 1 

 (rarely 2), similar to the leaves, 1-7 cm. long; spikelets 2-8 

 (rarely 1), capitate, sessile, 8-16 mm. long; scales ovate, 

 chestnut-brown, shining, obtuse or acutish ; stamens 3 ; style 

 2-cleft; achene plano-convex, obovate, shining, abruptly short- 

 tipped or rounded; bristles very short. 



Wet grounds, mostly alkaline. Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones; 

 Inyo County, California, north to Washington, east to Wyoming and 

 Saskatchewan. Type locality: Soda Lake, Carson County, Nevada. 



11. Scirpus validus A'ahl. 

 American Great Bulrush. Fig. 656. 



Scirpus lalidus Vahl, Enum. 2: 268. 1806. 



Perennial by stout rootstocks, culm stout, terete, 

 smooth, erect. 1-3 m. tall, sheathed below, the upper 

 sheatli occasionally extended into a short blade. 

 Involucral leaf solitary, erect, shorter than the umbel, 

 appearing as if continuing the culin ; umbel compound, 

 appearing lateral, its primary rays slender, spreading. 

 1-7 cm. long; spikelets oblong-conic, sessile or some of 

 them peduncled in capitate clusters of 1-5, obtuse or 

 acute, 5-12 mm. long, 3-4 mm. in diameter; scales ovate 

 to suborbicular, slightly pubescent, with a rather strong 

 midvein which is sometimes excurrent into a short tip ; 

 bristles 4-6. downwardly barbed, equaling or longer 

 than the achene; stamens 3; style 2-cleft; achene 

 plano-convex, obovate, nearly as long as the scale, gray 

 to brown, abruptly mucronate, a little more than 3 mm. 

 wide. 



Ponds and marshes, Sonoran and Transition Zones; south- 

 ern California to British Columbia, east to Florida and New- 

 foundland: West Indies. Type locality: Caribbean Islands. 

 Referred by authors to 5. lacustris L. 



