56 TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. rhynchospora, 



a little rugose. Schcenus setaceus Muhl. Gram, p. 6. 

 Will d. Spec. I. p. 268 ? 



Culm about a span high, slender. Leaves setaceous. Sfiiket 

 with a setaceous bract at the base. Glumes brown, lanceolate, 

 mucronate, carinate. Stamens 3. Style 2-cleft, persistent. 

 Seed crowned with the remains of the style, surrounded with 

 6 scabrous bristles at the base ; bristles longer than the seed. 

 IIab. In sandy swamps in the pine-barrens of New- Jersey ? In 

 swamps, Pennsylvania. July. Muhlenberg. 



This plant is probably quite distinct from the ScHffiNus seta- 

 ecus of Sw art z and Va h I, as it certainly belongs to the 

 genus Rhynchospora of the latter. The S. setaceus is dian- 

 drous, with the seed subrotund and bidentate ; which characters 

 do not exist in our plant. 



5. R. sparsa Vakl: culm triquetrous, leafy; corymbs 

 axillary and terminal, compound, lax ; peduncles capillary ; 

 seed obovate, rugose, much longer than the tubercle. Vahl 

 Ew<m. II. p. 230. Pwrs/} F/. I. p. 48. Elliott SkA. 

 p. G2. t. 2. f. 1. Rotm. ^ Schult, \\.'^.Z3. Schcenus 

 sparsus Mich. Fl. I. p. 35. Muhl. Gram, p. 7. 



Culm a foot and a half high. Leaves linear-lanceolate, smooth 



Flowers in spreading panicles; the terminal panicle larger, 



with linear bracts. Sfiikes ovate, on slender peduncles. Glumes 



. ovate, brown, mucronate. Style 2-cleft. Seed white j tubercle 



small, acute. Bristles twice as long as the seed. 



Hab. In Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg. July. I have seen 

 specimens from the Southern States only. 



6. R. cymosa EIL? culm triquetrous, leafy; cymes 

 terminal and axillary ; the terminal one much larger; seed 

 round-ovate, compressed, transversely rugose ; tubercle co- 

 nical. E lliott S/c,[. ip. 5B? Schcenus cymosM* fVilld, 

 Spec, 1. p. 265. Muhl, Gram. p. 8. Scirpus polyphyllus 

 Pursh Fl.l. p. 57. 



Culm a foot or 1 8 inches high, smooth and slender, acutely tri- 

 angular. Leaves linear, flat, carinate ; the upper ones over- 

 to^jping the culm. Flowers in fascicled cymes; peduncles 

 unequal, with setaceous bracts at the divisions. Involucrum 

 2 — 3-leaved, setaceous, longer than the cymes. Sfiikes in little 

 heads of about 5, ovate. Glumes broad-ovate, the lower ones 

 mucronate. Stamens 3. Style 2 — 3-cleft. Seed pale brown, 

 rugose transversely,' finely striated longitudinally. Tubercle 

 (or persistent base of the style) one third the length of the 

 seed, white. Bristles shorter than the seed. 



Hab. In swamps. Pennsylvania. July. Muhlenberg. My 

 specimens are from Salem, North-Carolina. 



The R. cymosa of Elliott differs from the plant here 

 described, and from Muhlenberg*sy in having a terete 



