102 



cannot yet be regarded as established. True P. nitens has a 

 transversely rugose achenium and a short tubercle ; true P. scir- 

 potdes a smooth or but slightly rugose achenium and a long 

 tubercle. A specimen in- Herb. Torrey, collected by Leaven- 

 worth in East Florida and written up by Dr. Torrey as P. inter- 

 media, has a strongly rugose achenium and a tubercle intermedi- 

 ate in length, indicating that they may all be but forms of one 

 species, to which Vahl's specific name must be applied. P. Tex- 

 ensis, Torr. & Hook , seems not much more distinct than the 

 others. The fourth member of the genus {P. corymbiformis 

 (Wright), Benth. & Hook., Gen. PL, iii., 1048; Scirpus corymbi- 

 formis, Wright, in Sauvalle Flor. Cubana, 176), has much more 

 claim to specific rank. 



Fimbristylis capillaris (L.), Gray, must include a large num- 

 ber of forms differing slightly in the amount of bearding at the 

 mouths of the sheaths, the acute or obtuse apices of the scales 

 and the size, markings and color of the nut. Besides the synon- 

 omy cited in Hemsley's Biologia, we must add Isolepis ciliati- 

 folia, Torr., which appears hardly separable even as a variety, 

 while the following may perhaps stand as varieties or marked 

 forms : 



Var. PILOSA, n. van Culms densely pilose throughout; 

 scales dark brown, acute. (Guatemala, Santa Rosa, Tiirckheim, 

 1887, No. 1283; Orizava, Miiller, 1853, No. 1966.) 



Var. COARCTATA (Ell.) {Isolepis coarctata, Torr.) Umbels 

 contracted ; spikes linear-oblong. 



Fimbristylis Vahlii, Link., Hort. Berol., i, 287, is the older 

 name for F. congesta, Torn, Ann. Lye, iii., p. 345, as noted by 

 Bceckeler, Linnaea, xxxvii., p. 9. 



Fimbristylis monostachya (Vahl), Hassk., PI. Jav. Ran, p. 61 

 (1848), is the name for Abilgaardia monostachya, Vahl, following 

 Bentham and Hooker in reducing the genus to Fimbristylis. 



Fimbristylis schoenoides^ Vahl., has been collected by A. H. 

 Curtiss, in Walton Co., Florida, as I have recently been informed 

 by Dr. Watson. I do not find any record of its occurrence 

 otherwise nearer than southern Asia, but there is a marked 

 tropical distribution of Cyperaceae of which this is perhaps only 

 another example. 



