232 TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Scirpus. 



naked, except at the base, from six to fifteen feet high, and 

 from one to two inches in diameter, three-sided ; angles very 

 sharp; sides somewhat concave. Leaves mostly radical, al- 

 most as long as the culm, much keeled, (a transverse section 

 appears like the letter V,) smooth, inside only a little striat- 

 ed. Umbel superdecompound, generally about a foot long. 

 Involucre from three to four leaved, the largest from three 

 to four feet long, the smallest from three to four inches, 

 smooth. Involuce! chaffy. Spikes minute, ovate, few-flower- 

 ed. Scales broad, and short. Stamens three. Stigma 

 three-cleft. Seed three-sided, without bristles, which easily 

 distinguishes it from the last Sc. grossus. 



Obs. I have not in any of the foregoing- genera of Cype- 

 roideaj taken notice of the sheaths which embrace the base of 

 the peduncles and pedicels of the umbels, and their sub-divi- 

 sions ; because they are common to all, and so much alike, 

 that I do not think they can convey any information. Nor 

 have I attended to the form of those peduncles and pedicels; 

 because I have not found it uniform. The culm, inflorescence, 

 involucre, and seed, are I think, the best marks to discrimi- 

 nate the species by, particularly the culm and seed. The 

 number of stamens and divisions of stigma, sometimes vary 

 even in the same plant, much more in different plants of the 

 same species. 



Nearly the whole of the plants belonging to the six forego- 

 ing genera (called Calamarice by Linnaeus and Cyperoidece 

 by Jussieu) are natives of low, b.trren, moist places, and bor- 

 ders of rice fields on the coast of Coromandel. They appear, 

 blossom, and ripen their seed during the rains, and the be- 

 ginning of the cool season. They are in general rejected by 

 cattle. 



