GENUS 13. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



10. Rynchospora gracilenta A. Gray. Slender 

 Beaked-rush. Fig. 850. 



R. gracilenta A. Gray, Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 216. 1835. 



Culms very slender or filiform, smooth, obtusely 

 triangular, i-2 tall. Leaves flat or becoming invo- 

 lute in drying, rather less than i" wide, elongated but 

 shorter than the culm ; spikelets narrowly ovoid, acute, 

 2" long, few, in 1-4 loose clusters, the lower clusters 

 borne on filiform stalks ; scales ovate, brown, mu- 

 cronate; bristles 6, upwardly barbed, equalling the 

 achene and tubercle ; achene broadly oval or nearly 

 orbicular, dark brown, lenticular, dull, smooth ; tubercle 

 narrowly subulate, flat, widened at the base, pale, about 

 as long as the achene. 



In pine barren swamps, southern New York to Florida 

 and Texas, near the coast. June-Aug. 



ii. Rynchospora Smallii Britton. Small's 

 Beaked-rush. Fig. 851. 



R. Smallii Britton.; Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 1321. 1903. 



Culms rather stout, 4 high or less, tufted. 

 Leaves flat, \"-2\" wide; spikelets several or 

 numerous in several rather loose axillary clusters, 

 ii"-2" long, fusiform, their scales brown; bristles 

 upwardly barbed, as long as the achene and tu- 

 bercle; achene narrowly obovate, brown, smooth, 

 shining, about f" long, the smooth tubercle about 

 one-half as long. 



Bogs and damp hillsides, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania to North Carolina. July-Aug. 



12. Rynchospora cymosa Ell. Grass-like 

 Beaked-rush. Fig. 852. 



Rynchospora cymosa Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. i : 58. 1816. 

 Schoenus cymosus Muhl. Gram. 8. 1817. 



Light green, culms tufted, sharply 3-angled, smooth, 

 l-2 tall. Leaves flat, narrowly linear, grass-like, \\"-2" 

 wide or the basal ones broader, the uppermost sometimes 

 overtopping the culm; spikelets ovoid-oblong, acute, ii" 

 long, sessile or nearly so, capitate in 2 J s-7's on the ulti- 

 mate branches of the axillary and terminal clusters; 

 bracts setaceous ; scales dark brown, broadly ovate or 

 suborbicular; bristles 6, upwardly barbed, shorter than 

 the achene ; achene broadly obovate to oblong, lenticu- 

 lar, transversely wrinkled; style 2-cleft; tubercle conic, 

 one-fourth to one-third as long as the achene. 



Moist soil, New Jersey to Illinois, Arkansas, Florida and 

 Texas. Also in the West Indies and South America. 

 June-Aug. 



Rynchospora compressa Chapm., of the southeastern states and reported from Missouri, differs 

 by a broader lid-like tubercle. 



Rynchospora rariflora (Michx.) Ell., of the Southeastern States, Cuba and Jamaica, recently 

 found at Cape May, New Jersey, has filiform culms and leaves and filiform-peduncled spikelets. 



