194 CYPERACEAE 



2. ELEOCHARIS R. Br. Spike-Rush. 



Annuals or chiefly poi-ennials. Stems tufted, simple, terminating in a solitary 

 spikelet not subtended hy an involucre. Leaves reduced to sheaths or the lowest 

 rarely blade-bearing. Spikelets several to many-flowered. Scales concave. 

 Stamens 2 or 3. Perianth-bristles 3 to 9, commonly retrorsely barbed. Style 

 3-eleft and achene 3-angled, or 2-cleft and achene lenticular; base of the style 

 enlarged and persistent as a tubercle on the summit of the achene. — Species 127, 

 widely distributed from tlie arctic to antarctic regions. (Greek elos, marsh, and 

 charis, delight. ) 



Bibliog. — FernaUl, M. L., Eleoeharis ovata and its N. Am. Allies (Proc. Am. Acad. 34:485- 

 497,-1899). 



Style mostly 2-cleft; achene lenticular or biconvex. 



Achene jet-black; tuljtrcle depressed; annual _ 1. E. capitata. 



Achene light-brown. 



Perennial; tubercle conical, less than half as broad as the body of the achene; spikelet 



lanceolate 2. E. palustris. 



Annual; tubercle thin, deltoid, as broad or nearly as broad as the aeliene; spikelet ovate. 



Bristles often nearly twice as long as the achene 3. E. obtiisa. 



Bristles H to % as long as the achene 4. E. monticola. 



Style 3-cleft; achene turgid or 3-angled; perennial. 



Tubercle reduced to a mere scar or very obscure 5. E. boUinderi. 



Tubercle well-developed and more or less prominent. 



Achene with several longitudinal ridges connected by a transverse lattice-work; spikelet 



flattened 6. E. acicularis. 



Achene smooth. 



Stems erect or nearly so, not rooting at tip; tubercle constricted at base or at least 

 sharply defined from the achene. 



Spikelet lanceolate; scales acute 7. E. parishii. 



SpUtelet oblong; scales obtuse _ 8. E. mo-ntana. 



Stems or some of them bending over and rooting at tip; tubercle subulate or nar- 

 rowly pyramidal, continuous with the achene ;-9. E. rostellala. 



1. E. capitata R. Br. Stems erect, tufted, 7 to 8 inches high ; spikelet ovate, 

 11/4 to 2 lines long; bristles 6 (or 7), about as long as the achene; stamens 2 or 3; 

 achene black and shining, lenticular; tubercle white, thin and a little like a 

 skull-cap. 



Wet sandy soil, Southern California. Eastern United States, Asia, Africa, 

 Australia. 



Locs. — Warm Creek, San Bernardino, Parish; Palm Sprs., ace. Parish; Thousand Palms 

 Caiion, Riverside Co., Jepson 6043; Dos Palmas, Hall .5984. 



Eef. — Eleoch.uus capitata R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. HoU. 1:225 (1810), types from Virginia 

 and the Caribbees. 



E. .\TKOPURPUREA Kunth. Enum. PI. 2:151 (1837). Scirpns atropurpureus 'Retz. Obs. 5:14 

 (1789), type loc. India. Near E. capitata; scales minute; bristles 2 to 4, white, or wanting; 

 achene .iet-black, lenticular; tubercle conic, minute, depressed. — Visalia (ace. Coville, Contrib. 

 U. S. Nat. Herb. 4:211). Widely distributed, occuring in the eastern United States and in 

 all continents. 



2. E. palustris R. & S. Common Spike-eush. Wire-grass. (Fig. 14.) 

 Stems 1- to 2 feet high, .stoutish, mostly terete, sheathed at the base, leafless, 

 creeping, stoloniferous ; sheaths sub-truncate ; rootstock stout ; spikelet many- 

 flowered, 6 to 14 lines long ; bracts ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate ; scales ovate- 

 oblong, purplish brown with scarious margin ; bristles 3, rather shorter than the 

 achene; style 2-eleft; achene obovoid, biconvex; tubercle deltoid, con.stricted at 

 the point of junction. 



Ponds, marishes and shallow slow-moving creeks, at low altitudes in (California. 

 North to British Columbia and east to the Atlantic. Europe, Asia. 



