TRIANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Eleocharis. 63 



S. n. 1340. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 178. 



Cyperus gramineus. Bauh. Hist. v. 2. 504. /. Raii Syn. 426. 

 Scheuchz. Agr. 393. 



C. gramineus miliaceus. Ger. Em. 30. /. 



Gramen cyperoides miliaceum. Bauh. Theatr. 90. /. 



G. arundinaceum, foliis acutissimis, panicula multiplici, cyperi 

 facie. Loes. Pruss. 119. t. 33. 



In moist shady woods, not common. 



In Pembrokeshire, Warwickshire and Essex. Ray. In Norfolk. 

 Mr. Rose, and Mr. Stone. In several woods about London, as 

 well as in the south of Scotland. 



Perennial. June, July. 



Root creeping. Stem a yard high, or more, smooth. Leaves nu- 

 merous, grassy, flat ; rough and cutting at the edges and keel. 

 Panicle of innumerable, little, dark -green, ovate spikes. Glumes 

 obtuse, with more or less of a small point. Stigm. 3. Seed len- 

 ticular, convex at one side, whitish, smooth, with 6 or 8 longish 

 rough bristles. 



26. ELEOCHARIS. Spike-rush. 



Br. Pr. 224. 



Scirpus. Tourn.t. 300. Lam. t. 38./. 1. 



Nat. Ord. see n. 22. 



Spike of numerous Jlowers, all perfect. Gl. imbricated in 

 every direction, expanded, uniform. Cor. none. Filam. 

 capillary. Antlu linear. Germ, compressed. Style di- 

 lated at the base, and united, by a suddenly contracted 

 joint, with the germen. Stigm. 2 or 3. Seed lenticular, 

 or triangular, crowned with the hard, discoloured, 

 wrinkled, triangular or compressed, permanent base of 

 the style. Bristles 4< — 12, finely toothed, beneath the 

 germen, rarely wanting, springing from one common 

 membranous base with the 3 stamens. 



[The ingenious Mr. Kunth, in a treatise on the family of 

 Cyperacece, p. 4, has objected to Mr. Brown's idea of an 

 articulation in the style ; because, as he justly says, an 

 actual joint would intercept the impregnation. But there 

 is no question of any such thing. There is nothing ana- 

 logous, in the vegetable body, to the joints in the limbs 

 of animals. The term is used for a certain point where, 

 after the original functions of the part have been per- 

 formed, a solution of continuity takes place ; as in the 

 rachis, or main stalk, of the spiked grasses, which becomes 

 very brittle at each joint, when the seeds ripen, though 

 originally continuous. The same may be observed in the 

 stalks of leaves, and of fruits.] 



