CYPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 587 



2. S. oligantha, E]l. Culms slender, 2° high, the angles somewhat 

 wiuged ; leaves linear (2" wide), smooth except the scabrous apex; lateral fas- 

 cicles 1 or 2, usually ou long exserted peduncles ; achene ovate, on a tuberculate 

 dish. — Va. to ila. and Tex. 



* * Achene papillose or icarty. 



3. S. pauciflora, Muhl. Smoothish or hairy ; culm slender (9 -24' high), 

 leaves narrowly linear ; fascicles few-flowered, the lateral pedunculate, sessile, 

 or wanting ; bracts ciliate ; achene globose-ovate ; the disk a narrow ring 

 bearing 3 pairs of minute tubercles. — X. H. to Ohio, south to Fla. and Tex. 



* * * Achene reticulated or wrinkled. 



4. S. reticularis, Michx. (Pi. 5, fig. 6-10.) Culms slender, erect, 

 scabrous (1 -2^° high) ; leaves linear (1 - 1|" wide), smooth ; lateral fascicles 

 1-3, loose, remote, nearly erect, on short often included peduncles ; bracts gla- 

 brous ; achene globose, regularli/ reticulated and pitted, not hairy, resting upon 

 a double greenish conspicuously 3-lobed disk, the inner appressed to and de- 

 ciduous with the achene. — E. Mass. to Tla. — Var. pubescens, Britton. Edges 

 of reticulations more or less hairy, especially toward the apex ; lateral fascicles 

 generally on longer peduncles. Pine-barrens of N. J. to Fla. — Var. OBSctiRA, 

 Britton. Achene bony, its surface with very obscure reticulations, nearly 

 smooth at the summit. R. I. aud N. C. 



5. S. Torreyana, Walpers. Culms weak, diffuse, slightly scabrous or 

 smooth; leaves linear (2-4" wide), smooth ; lateral fascicles loose, on more or 

 less elongated and drooping filiform peduncles ; achene irregularl// pitted-reticu- 

 lated or pitted-rugose with the ridges somewhat spirall 1/ arranged and more or 

 less hair// (sometimes smooth); otherwise as in the last. (S. laxa, Torr.) — 

 Pine-barrens, X. J. to Fla. and Tex. 



6. S. verticillata, Muhl. Smooth ; culms simple, slender (4 - 24' high) ; 

 leaves narrowly linear ; yasc^c/es 3- 9-flowered, 4-6, sessile in an interrupted 

 spikelet ; achene globose {\" broad), somewhat triangular at base, rough- 

 wrinkled tvith short elevated ridges; disk obsolete. — E. Mass. to Ont., Minn., 

 and south to the Gulf. 



16. CAR EX, Ruppius. Sedge. (By L. H. Bailey.) 



Flowers unisexual, destitute of floral envelopes, disposed in spikes; the 

 staminate consisting of three stamens, in the axil of a bract, or scale ; the 

 pistillate comprising a single pistil with a bifid or trifid style, forming in fruit 

 a hard lenticular or triangular achene, which is enclosed in a sac (perigt/nium) 

 formed by the complete union of the borders of a bractlet or of connate bract- 

 lets and borne in the axil of a bract, or scale. Staminate and pistillate flow- 

 ers borne in different parts of the spike (spike androgi/nous), or in separate 

 spikes on the same culm, or rarely the plant dioecious. — Perennial grass-like 

 herbs with mostly triangular culms, 3-ranked leaves, usually with rough mar- 

 gins and keel, and spikes in the axils of leafy or scale-like bracts, often aggre- 

 gated into heads. An exceedingly critical genus, the study of which should 

 be attempted only with complete and fully mature specimens. (The classical 

 Latin name, of obscure signification ; derived by some from Kelpo}, to cut, on ac- 

 count of the sharp leaves — as the English name Shear-gi-ass.) (PI. 5 and 6.) 



