JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OK THK 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. V. September. 1907. Supplement 1. 



THE SEDGES OF JAMAICA. 



By N. L. Britton. 



The list of species of Cyperaceae published herewith is based 

 primarily on collections in the herbarium of the New York Botani- 

 cal Garden, supplemented by those in the herbarium of the Depart- 

 ment of Public Gardens and Plantations, and by notes taken at the 

 herbaria of the Royal Gardens at Kew and at the British Museum of 

 Natural History. The principal literature consulted has been the 

 Monograph of the West Indian Cyperaceae by the late Mr. C. B. 

 Clarke, published by Professor Urban in the second volume of his 

 Symbolae Antillanae, Grisebach's Flora of the British West Indies, 

 and the several papers of O. Boeckeler. 



Most of the species may be regarded as satisfactorily known, 

 and their general distribution ascertained, but a considerable num- 

 ber are, as will be seen in the enumeration, known only from 

 single specimens secured by the older collectors, so that very much 

 remains to be done in order to ascertain their relative abundance 

 or rarity, their habitats and distribution ; in some cases the only 

 record that we have is that the specimen was collected somewhere 

 on the island, and in a few instances it is suspected that errors have 

 been made in the origin of the plant cited, through a mixture of 

 labels in the older herbaria, or in some other way. 



I have accepted the generic limits outlined by Mr. Clarke in the 

 paper above cited with the exception of his treatment of Cyperas 

 and its segregates, where I have accepted the view of previous 

 authors in taking Cyperus in its broad sense rather than recogniz- 

 ing the genera Pycraeus, Mariscus, and Torulinium, as I believe the 

 characters depended on by Mr. Clarke for the maintenance of these 

 genera are too vague for satisfactory use. It is my opinion that 

 either this course must be taken, or that Eleocharis, Scirpus and Ryn- 

 chospora must also be split up in order to be consistent. On the 

 other hand, I accept the genus Abildgaardia as distinct from Fim- 

 bristylis, though I am not altogether clear that this position is 

 readily defensible. I have also diverged from Mr. Clarke's treat- 

 ment in accepting the generic name Stenophyllus, for the plants he 

 includes under Bulbostylis, the former name having evident priority 

 and being based on a well-known type. 



The paper is submitted as a contribution to knowledge of the 

 Jamaica flora from the Tropical Laboratory of the New York Bo- 

 tanical Garden .at Cinchona, which is held as a research station 

 through the cordial co-operation of the Colonial Government. One 

 of the great needs of this research station is a more accurate know- 



