CYPERACEZ. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 519 
or sandy banks near the coast, Florida, and northward. April-July.— Rhizoma 
very slender, bearing minute tuber-like buds. Spikes 1” — 2" long. i 
25. E. Baldwinii, Torr. Culms (4/-6'long) grooved, diffuse, wiry; 
spikes oblong, flat, 3 — Eesi, proliferous and rooting; scales 4-6, 2-ranked, 
lanceolate, obtuse, finely nerved, the lower ones longer; nut smooth, oblong, 
strongly 3-angled, crowned with the conical 3-angled sessile tubercle; bristles 
4-6, unequal, the longest as long as the nut. — Swamps, Florida and Georgia. 
June-Sept. 1,— Sheaths light brown. Spikes 2" long. 
8. SCIRPUS, L. Burnvusnu. 
Spikes terete, single, or oftener in clusters or umbels, which are subtended by 
a 1-many-leaved involucre. Scales imbricated in several rows. Nut obtuse, 
or pointed by the persistent jointless base of the style. Tubercle none. — Culms 
jointed and leafy, or leafy or sheathed only at the base. Otherwise €— 
charis. — All perennial except No. 2. 
$ 1. Culms jointless : leaves or sheaths radical. 
* Spike solitary, terminal. 
1. S. cxespitosus, L. Culms tufted (6/ —10' high), terete, wiry; sheaths 
numerous, rigid, imbricated, the uppermost ending in a short leaf; spike 3-8- 
flowered ; involucre 2-leaved, as long as the spike, pointed ; nut oblong, com- 
pressed-3-angled, abruptly pointed, half as long as the smooth capillary bristles. 
— High mountains of North Carolina, and northward. July. — Rhizoma thick 
and creeping. Spike 1-2’ long. 
„* * Spikes 2 - many, apparently lateral: the 1-leaved involucre erect and continuous 
with the culm. 
+ Spikes in sessile clusters. 
2. S. debilis, Pursh. Culms terete, slender, commonly leafless; spikes 
2-5, oblong-ovate or cylindrical; involucre elongated ; scales round-ovate, 
obtuse mucronate; style 2-3-cleft; nut broadly obovate, plano-convex, smooth, 
shorter than the 4-6 strongly hispid bristles. — Borders of ponds and streams, 
South Carolina, and northward. @ — Culms }°-1}° high. aa E 5" 
long. 
3. S. pungens, Vahl. Culms stout, acutely sanie two P 4 pum 
concave, leafy at the base; leaves channelled, sharply keeled ; involucre slender 
(3'-4'long); spikes 3-6, light brown, oblong; scales membranaceous, oval, 
9-cleft, mucronate-awned, slightly ciliate ; E slender-pointed ; style 2-cleft ; 
nut round-obovate, plano-convex or lelia as long as the 3 — 5 hispid bristles. 
(S. Americanus, Pers.) — Sandy marshes along the coast, West Florida, and 
northward. Juhe- Sept. — Culm 29-39 high. Leaves 2-3, Me shorter 
than the culm. Spikes 4"— 6" long. 
