200 



CYPERACEAE 



8") in a terminal sessile cluster; involiicral bract narrowly linear or acicular, 

 y^ to 11/4 inches long; scales ovate, obtusish, not awned ; aclienes nearly circular 

 or round-ovate, flat on one face, rounded or hemispheric on the other ; bristles 

 1 to 3, less than half the length of the aehene. 



JMoist alkaline lands, east of the Sierra Nevada. Nevada to Washington. 



Locs. — Mono Lake, Brewer; Amedee, Davy 3311. 



Bef. — SciRPUS NEVADENSis Wats. Bot. King, 360 (1871), type loc. Soda Lake, Carson 

 desert, Nev., Watson 1213. 



6. S. acutus Muhl. Tule. (Fig. 19.) Stems arising from stout creeping 

 rootstocks, terete or very obtusely trigonous above, 3 to 9 feet high, leafless or 



with a sliort terete leaf from the 

 upper basal sheath ; inflorescence 

 apparently lateral, 1 to 5 inches 

 long ; involucral bract stout, shorter 

 than the inflorescence ; spikelets 3 

 to 6 lines long, numerous, congested 

 capitate, or in an irregular umbel 

 with une(jual rays ; scales ovate, 



shortly awned. 



/■I 



to 



VH 



Fig. 19. SciRPUS ACUTUS Muhl. 

 spikelets, X 1; 6, scale, X 4; c 

 d, aehene and bristles, X 7. 



a. panicle of 

 aehene, X -4 ; 



ciliate, 



longer than the acliene ; bristles 



6, slender, retrorsely barbellate, 



slightly shorter tlian or about 



equaling the aehene ; style 2-cleft ; 



aehene lenticular, gray, abniptly 



mucronate. 



Salt and fresliwater marshes 

 and borders of lakes and streams, 

 very common: California to Brit- 

 i.sh Columbia, Newfoundland and 

 Ai'izona. 



Tax. Note. — The aehene in this species is ^-i larger than in S. validus and the scales nearly 

 twice as long. ' The umbels are denser in S. acutus and the stems harder. 



Eeou. Note. — It is our estimate that originally there were in California about 250,000 

 acres of tule lands; much of this area has now been reclaimed to cultivation. Tule stems were 

 used by the native tribes to build their balsas or small boats and to weave mats. At the present 

 day the stems are used for packing nurserj' stock for shipment, thatching hay-stacks, and as a 

 source of potash. 



Locs. — Victorville, Parish lO-jlil; Tehachapi, Greene; Bakersfield, Davy 2914; Hetch-IIetchy, 

 Jepsan 3415; Long Valley, Lassen Co., Jepson 7786; Gazelle, Shasta Valley, Gold-smitli 16; 

 Samoa, Humboldt Bay, Tracy 2595 ; Suisun Marshes, Jepson 2460a. 



Eefs. — SciRPUS ACUTUS Muhl.; Bigelow, Fl. Bost. 15 (1814), tvpe loc. Fish Pond, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass.; Fern. Rhod. 22:55 (1920). S. occidentalis Chase," Shod. 6:68 (1904). " 

 lacustris var. occidental is Wats. Bot. C!al. 2:218 (1880), type from western America. 



S. 



7. S. californicus Britton. California BrLRUsH. Similar to S. occidentalis; 

 umbel irregular, looser, its rays more slender, up to 4 inches long ; spikelets dark 

 reddish brown, cylindric or narrow-ovate, (3 or) 4 to 5 lines long; scales short- 

 aristate; bristles 2, 3 or 4, ribbon-.shaped, dark red, conspicuously short-hairy 

 or somewhat plumose. 



Marshes, California to Florida and South America. 



Locs. — Oceanside, Parish 4455; Oak Knoll, Los Angeles Co., Braimton 659; Alvarado, Jep- 

 son; Vallejo, M. Grace Sowe ; Suisun Marshes, Jepson 2460. 



Refs. — SciRPUS CALIFORNICUS Britton Trans. N. Y. Ac;id., 11:79 (1892). Elytrospermum 

 californicum C. A. Mev. Mem. Sav. Etr. Petersb. 1:201, t. 2 (1830), tvpe from California. 

 S. tatora Kunth, Enum". PI. 2:166 (1837), type loc Peru. 



