ScirpUS. ^IRIANDRIA MONOCYNIA. 229 



of the seeds and jointed culm, will, I think, render it a very well 

 siiarked and distinct species. 



36. S. strictus. R. 



Culms straight, from twelve to eighteen inches high, culumnar, 

 t//?j6e/ compound. Involucres chaffy; scales obtuse, diandrous and 

 roundish, compressed. 



Grows on a moderately dry, hard, barren, sandy soil. 



Root fibrous. — Culms straight, naked, rigid, from twelve to eigh- 

 teen inches high, round, very rmoolh. — Leaves radical, short, rigid, 

 but smooth. — Umbel terminal, sometimes decompound, contracted, 

 seldom more than two inches long, and one broad. — Involucre from 

 two to four, small, chaffy, tapering sheaths. — Spikes ovate, snjal!, 

 many-flowered. — Scales with a broad, white, membranaceous bor- 

 der. — Stame7is tv.o. — Stigma two-cleft. — Seed much compressed, 

 obcordate, dotted with brown. 



37. S. hrevifolius. U. 



Culms erect, from six to eight inches high, semi-culumnar. Um. 

 hel decompound ; mvohicels chaffy ; scales cuspidate, nionandrous. 

 Stigma bifid. Seeds obcordate, striated. 



Is found generally on low sandy pasture ground. 



,Root fibrous. — Culms, erect, mostly naked, from six to eight 

 inches high, flat on one side and rounded on the other. — Leaves 

 sheathing, short. — Umbel terminal, decompound — Involucre from 

 two to three-leaved, shorter than the umbel.— Spikes small, oblong ; 

 while young sessile, but when old appearing peduncled, the scales 

 and seeds gradually dropping off and leavuig the rachis naked. — 

 S-ales keeled and pointed.— Seamen single.— SYy/e broad, enlarg- 

 ed at ihe base ; above, the margins are hairy. Stigma two-cleft. — 

 Seeds obcordate, convex on the outside, flat on the inner, white, 

 striated. 



Ubs. The single stamen and striated seed are the best specific 

 marks. It much resembles Rottboel's figure of S. dichotomusj but 



