SEDGE FAMILY 



197 



3. FIMBRISTYLIS Vahl. 

 Annuals or perennials. Stems leafy below. Spikelets umbellate or capitate, 

 terete, subtended by a 1 to many-leaved involuere. Scales spirally imbricated 

 all around, mostlj- deciduous. Perianth bristles none. Stamens 1 to 3. Style 

 2 to 3-cleft, its base swollen, and commonly tubereulate, the whole falling away 

 from the achene at maturity. Achene lenticular or 3-angled. — Species 131, all 

 continents. (Latin fimbri, fringe, and stylus, style.) 



Achene triangular; tubercle more or less persistent; style glabrous; annual ...,1. F. cfipiUaris. 

 Achene flattened or biconvex; tubercle deciduous. 



Spikclets clustered; style glabrous, at least below; annual 2. F. vahlii. 



Spikelets umbellate, solitary on the rays or in the forks ; style eiliate ; perennial. 



3. F. tlierm-alis. 



1. F. capillaris Gray. Stems tufted, somewhat bristle-like. 2 to 7 inches high, 

 much exceeding the tiliform leaves, and bearing 1 to 3 spikelets, when 3 the stem 

 shortly forked at apex and bearing 1 spikelet in the fork ; spikelets narrowly 

 ovate, 114 to 21/^ lines long; involucral bract lanceolate-setaceous; "stamens 2"; 

 achene obovoid, triangular, lightly wrinkled transversely, the angles somewhat 

 thickened ; tubercle small, deltoid, more or less persistent. 



Sierra Nevada. 



Loc. — Near the Royal Arches, Yosemite Valley, Jepson 8-ilO. 



Refs. — FiiiBRiSTYLis c.\PiLLARis Gray, Man. .530 (1848). Scirpus capillaris L. Sp. PI. 49 

 (17.53), cited as occurring in Virginia, Ethiopia & Cevlon. Stcnophylhis capillaris Britten, 

 Bull. Torr. Club, 21:30 (1894). 



F. MiLiACEA Vahl, Enum. PI. 2:287 (1806); umbel diffusely compound; spikelets sub- 

 globose, about 1 line long; achene whitish, acutely triangular, muricate-tuberculate. — "Near 

 San Francisco" (Bot. Cal. 2:223) in 1866, but not since found. 



2. F. vahlii Link. Stems slender, densely tufted, 1 to 4 inches high, longer 

 than or equaling the tiliform leaves; spikelets in clusters, subtended by filiform 

 elongated upright bracts which exceed the cluster 4 to 6 times; achene minute, 

 transversely reticulate. 



Very local in California: North Coast Ranges; upper San Joaquin Valley; 

 lower Colorado River. Southeastern United States and South America. 



Locs.— Clear Lake (Bot. Cal. 2:224); Visalia (ace. Coville, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 

 4:212); Ft. Yuma, Parish 8375, 8493. 



Refs. — F1MBRI.STYLIS VAHLU Link, Hort. Berol. 1:287 (1827). Seirpus vahlii Lam. Tab. 

 Encycl. 1:139 (1791), type loc. Spain. F. apus appears to be merely a form in which the 

 tubercle is reduced or obsolete and so we quote: F. aptts Wats. Bot. Cal. 2:224 (1880); 

 Scirpus apvs Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 

 10:78 (1874), type loc. shore of Clear 

 Lake, ISolnnder. 



3. F. thermalis Wats. (Fig. 

 17.) Stems 1 to 2 feet high, 

 bearing few to many spikelets 

 in a simple or compound um- 

 bellate cluster; leaves i/^ to % 

 as tall as the stems ; spikelets 

 oblong-ovate, 4 to 5 (or 7) lines 

 long; style hairy; achene whit- 

 ish, broadly obovoid, flattened, 

 tlie tubercle linear, nearly as 

 long, soon deciduous. 



Margins of hot springs : 

 Southern California northward 

 to Inyo Co. Nevada. ^. 



T ^ Tr „ T> <,on« ^^S- 17. Fl.MBRISTYLIS THER.MALIS Wats. a, clustCI 



Locs.-Owens Valley B,wer 2832; „f spikelets, X 1; fc, scale, X 5; 0, achene, X 5. 



Arrowhead Sprs., Pan.ih .5.528. ' 



Ref. — FimbristyIjIS TIIERIIALIS Wats. Bot. King 360 (1871), tvpo loc. Hot Spra., Ruby 

 Valley, Nev., Watson 1216. 



