ERIOCAULONACE^. 403 ERIOCAOLOS. 



XYRIS. 



Heads of flowers ovoid-cylindric ; sepals cartilaginous; 

 petals equal, ovate, crenate, with narrow claws as long as the 

 sepals ; capsule 1-celled, with parietal placentae. 



Gr. i'^i^oi, acute-pointed ; in allusion to the form of the leaves. 



1. X. CaROLINIA'NA. Lam'k. X. Jupacai. Mx. 

 Leares linear, gramineous ; sca/je ancipitous ; head ovoid, subacute ; bracts 



orbicular. Meadows. Root bulbous, with long, white fibres. Leaves a few 

 inches in length, often spiral, obtuse. Scape about a foot in hight, a little 

 twisted, broader near the top, simple, bearing a roundish head of bracts and 

 sepals, with a few yellow corollas successively developed upon it. Bracts 

 roundish, rigid, concave, longer than tlie sepals, covering the fruit, the lower 

 ones empty. Aug. Ydloic-iyed Grass. 



2. X. BREVIFO'LIA. Mx. 



Leaves ensiform-subulate, compressed, short; lieai ovoid-globose; calyx 

 longer than tlie bracts, somewhat gash-toothed. Boggy meadows. Stem 

 slender, round, simple, 12 — 18 inches high. Leaves narrow, 2 inches long, 

 twisted. Heads not larger than a pea. Flowers yellow. Aug. 



ORDER CLIX. ERIOCAULONACE^. tu Pipe-^cort Tribe. 



K.S.— MoncBcious or dicefeious, in a dense head. Perianth 2— 6-parted, or wanting. 

 Sta.—Q:, some of them generally abortive. Anthers mostly 1-celled. 

 Ova.— I or more-celled, cells 1-seeded. Seeds pendulous. 



Chiefly South American herbs, of aquatic habit, with cellular or fleshy leaves. They 

 aie of no known use. 



ERIOCAU'LON. 

 Flowers monoecious, collected into an imbricated head; 

 involucre manj-leaved. Slcrik in the disk; perianth single, 

 3-cleft, the 2 inner segments united nearly to their summit ; 

 stamens 4—6- Ftriih in the margin ; perianth single, deeply 

 4-par(ed ; style 1; stigmas 2 or 3 ; capsule 2 — 3-celied, 

 2 — 3-lobed; cells 1-sceded. 



Gr. igiov, wool, jcavXos, a stem ; the stem being sometimes velvety with 

 down. 



1. E. SEPTANGULa'rE. Wuh. E. pellucidum. Mx. 

 Smooth; scape slender, about 7-furrowed ; /cat'cs linear-subulate, pellucid, 



channeled, 5-nerved ; Aertf/ small, globose ; scales of the involucre ohluse. A 

 small plant of simple structure, in water, only the scape arising above the 

 surface. Leaves radical, submersed, in a small tuft at the bottom, 1 — 3 inches 

 long, 1 — 2 lines wide, tapering to a point, transparent at base. Stem simple, 

 erect, 4 — 12 inches high, with a small, terminal, hemispherical head of close, 

 white flowers. June. Pipe-icort, 



2. E. gnaphaloi'des. Mx. 



Scape somewhat compressed, with 10 furrows; leaves short, subulate, ensi- 

 form, glabrous; Afi«rfs hemispiieric-convex; iiivohicrc o? shining, scarious, 

 oval, round-obtuse scales. In still waters. Scape 10—14 inches high. July. 



Gnaphalium-like Pipe-wort. 



