GENUS 3. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



25. Eleocharis rostellata Torr. Beaked 

 Spike-rush. Fig. 782.. 



Scirpus rostellattts Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 318. 1836. 

 Eleocharis rostellata Torr. Fl. N. Y. 2: 347. 1843. 



Perennial by a short caudex, culms slender, 

 flattened, wiry, the fertile erect or ascending, the 

 sterile reclining and rooting at the summit, grooved, 

 i-5 long. Upper sheath truncate; spikelet oblong, 

 narrowed at both ends, thicker than the culm, 

 io-20-flowered, 3 "-6" long, about i" in diameter; 

 scales ovate, obtuse or the upper acute, green with a 

 somewhat darker midvein, their margins slightly 

 scarious ; bristles 4-8, retrorsely barbed, longer than 

 the achene and tubercle; stamens 3; style 3-cleft; 

 achene oblong-obovoid, obtusely 3-angled, its surface 

 finely reticulated; tubercle conic-subulate, about one- 

 half as long as the achene or shorter, capping its 

 summit, partly or entirely falling away at maturity. 



In marshes and wet meadows, New Hampshire, Ver- 

 mont and New York to British Columbia, Florida, Texas, 

 Mexico and California. Also in Cuba. Aug.-Sept. 



4. STENOPHYLLUS Raf. N^eog. 4. 1825. 



Mostly annual sedges, with slender erect culms, leafy below, the leaves narrowly linear 

 or filiform, with ciliate or pubescent sheaths. Spikelets umbellate, capitate or solitary, sub- 

 tended by a i-several-leaved involucre, their scales spirally imbricated all around, mostly 

 deciduous. Flowers perfect. Perianth none. Stamens 2 or 3. Style 2-3-cleft, glabrous, 

 its base much swollen and persistent as a tubercle on the achene as in Elcocliari's. Achene 

 3-angled, turgid or lenticular. [Greek, referring to the narrow leaves.] 



A genus of some 90 species, natives of temperate and warm regions. Besides the following, 6 

 others occur in the southern United States. Type species : Scirpns stenophyllus Ell. 



i. Stenophyllus capillaris (L.) Britton. 

 Hair-like Stenophyllus. Fig. 783. 



Scirpus capillaris L. Sp. PI. 49. 1/53. 

 Fiinbristylis capillaris A. Gray, Man. 530. 1848. 

 Stcnopliylhts capillaris Britton, Bull. Torr. Club 

 21 : 30. 1894. 



Annual, roots fibrous, culms filiform, densely 

 tufted, erect, grooved, smooth, 2'-io' tall. 

 Leaves filiform, roughish, much shorter than 

 the culm, their sheaths more or less pubescent 

 with long hairs ; involucral leaves 1-3, seta- 

 ceous, shorter than, or one of them exceeding 

 the inflorescence ; spikelets narrowly oblong, 

 somewhat 4-sided, 2\"-^' long, less than i" 

 thick, several in a terminal simple or compound, 

 sometimes capitate, umbel, or in depauperate 

 forms solitary ; scales oblong, obtuse or emar- 

 ginate, puberulent, dark brown with a green 

 keel ; stamens 2 ; style 3-cleft ; achene yellow- 

 brown, narrowed at the base, very obtuse or 

 truncate at the summit, \" long, 3-angled, trans- 

 versely wrinkled ; tubercle minute, depressed. 



In dry or moist soil, Maine to southern Ontario, 

 Minnesota, Florida, Texas, California and tropical 

 America. July-Sept. 



5. FIMBRISTYLIS Vahl, Enum. 2 : 285. 1806. 



Annual or perennial sedges. Culms leafy below. Spikelets umbellate or capitate, 

 terete, several to many-flowered, subtended by a i-many-leaved involucre, their scales spirally 

 imbricated all around, mostly deciduous, all fertile. Perianth none. Stamens 1-3. Style 

 2-3-cleft, pubescent or glabrous, its base much enlarged, falling away from the summit of 

 the achene at maturity. Achene lenticular, biconvex, or 3-angled, reticulated, cancellate, or 

 longitudinally ribbed or striate in our species. [Greek, in allusion to the fringed style of 

 some species.] 



