48 TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. ' scirpus* 



Culm 5 — S feet high, slender, clothed at the base with one or two 

 sheaths, which generally bear leaves 6 — 8 inches in lengths 

 Sfiikea bursting from the culm a few inches below the summit, 

 which is erect and mucronate. Glumes ferruginous ; margins 

 scarious and sometimes a little pubescent. Stamens 3. Style 

 2-cieft. Seed compressed on the one side, convex on the two 

 others. Bristles 6, longer than the seed. 



Hab, In salt marshes and swamps, and on the banks of rivers; 

 common. July — August. I have noticed 3 varieties of this 

 piarit. 1. The common one of our salt marshes in this vici- 

 nity ; 4 or 5 feet high ; spikes 2 or 3, growing out of the side 

 of i!ie culm from 3 to 6 iiiches below the extremity. 2. Culm 

 3 — 4 feet high, thick ; spikes 3 — 5, nearly terminal. Grows 

 near New-Haven, Connecticut. S. miKronaius P ur sh? 3. 

 Culm very slender, 2 feet high ; sheaths leafy ; spike gene- 

 rally single, remote from the extremity of tlie culm. Col- 

 lected near New-Haven by Mr. E. Leavenworth. 



12. S. debilis Muhl.: culms cespitose, deeply striate ; 

 spikes about 3, lateral, ovate, sessile ; glumes ovate, obtusej 

 mucronate. Muhl. Gram. p. .34. Pursh FL I. p. 55. 

 Roem. ($r Schult. II. p. 128. 



Culm from a span to a foot in height, with a few subulate leaves 

 at the base. Sfiikes 1 — 3, turgid, short-ovate, rather acute, 

 bursting out of the side of the culm 2 or 3 inches from its ex- 

 tremity. GUanes broad-ovate, smooth, carinate, sometimes acu- 

 minate; margins membranaceous. Stamens 3. Style 2-cleft. 

 Seed obovate, flat on the inner side, convex on the other, shin- 

 ing, with obscure impressed dots. Bristles 4 — 5, a little longer 

 than the seed. 



Hab. Borders of ponds, particularly in sandy soils. Long-Island, 

 near Babylon, he. Banks of the Connecticut River. In Penn- 

 sylvania, &c. August — September. 



I have specimens of S. debilis from Massachusetts, in which 

 there are no bristles at the base of the seeds. 



13. S.lacustris L. : culm terete, attenuated above, naked; 

 panicle subterminal ; spikes peduncled, ovate. W il Id. Spec, 

 I. p. 296. jyjtch. FL I. p. 31. Pursh FL I. p. 55. 

 Elliott Sk. I. p. 31. Muhl. Gram. p. 32. Roem. ($•- 

 Schult. II. p. 135. S. validus Vahl Enum. II. p. 268. 

 Pursh FL\. p. 56. Roem. <^ Schult. II. p. 138. 



Culm 4—8 feet high, more than half an inch in diameter at the 

 base, gradually diminishing towards the extremity. Sheaths 

 at the base of the culm, bearing short leaves. Sfii/ces in an un- 

 equal subdivided panicle or cyme, conglomerated in threes at 

 the extremities of the branches. Glumes ovate, obtuse, and 

 slightly mucronate, brown, pubescent under a lens ; margins 

 cihate. Stamens 3 (sometimes more, Mu h L). Style deeply 

 2-cleft. Seed obovate, compressed, pointed with the remains 

 of the style. Bristles 4—6, hispid, longer than the seed. 



