522 
CYPERACEJE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 
bristles strongly barbed downward; achenium triangular , ribbed and 
minutely reticulated, surmounted by a jlattish cap-shaped tubercle as 
large as itself. —Wet sandy places, Massachusetts to New Jersey and 
southward along the coast. August. 
§ 2. Eleoc haris proper. — Scales of the terete several - many-flowered 
spike membranaceous , with a midrib or nerve, imbricated in more than 
three ranks. 
* Achenium lenticular ( smooth): style 2- cleft , in No. 4 commonly 3- 
cleft: spike dense , many-flowered: culms rather slender , spongy. 
(Eledgenus, Nees.) 
4. E. obtusa, Schultes. Culms nearly terete, tufted (& - 14 f 
high) ; spike globose-ovoid and with age oblong , obtuse (dull brown); 
the scales very obtuse and numerous (80 - 130), densely crowded in 
many ranks ; style 3- (rarely 2-) cleft; achenium obovate, shining, tu- 
mid-margined, about half the length of the 6 bristles, crowned with a 
short and very broad flattened tubercle. (Scirpus capitatus, Pursh , <^c.) 
— Muddy places, everywhere common. July.—Roots fibrous: root¬ 
stocks few and short, or none. 
5. E* olivacea, Torr. Culms flatfish, grooved, diffusely tuft¬ 
ed on slender matted rootstocks (2 ; -4' high); spike ovate, acutish, 20 
- 30 -fioioered; scales ovate , obtuse , rather loosely imbricated in many 
ranks (purple with a green midrib and slightly scarious margins); 
achenium obovate, dull, abruptly beaked with a narrow tubercle, 
about half the length of the 6-8 bristles. — Inundated sandy soil, 
Massachusetts to New Jersey near the coast. August. 
6. E. pal listris, R. Brown. Culms nearly terete, striate, ris¬ 
ing (l 0 -2 =) high) from running rootstocks; spike oblong-lanceolate , 
pointed , many-flowered ; scales ovate-oblongs loosely imbricated in sev¬ 
eral ranks, reddish-brown with a broad and translucent whitish mar¬ 
gin and greenish keel, the upper acutish, the lowest rounded and 
often enlarged ; achenium obovate, somewhat shining, crowned with 
a short ovate or ovate-triangular flattened tubercle, shorter than the 
usually 4 bristles .— Var. 1. glaucescens (S. glaucescens, Willd ./)• 
culms slender or filiform; tubercle narrower and acute, beak-like, 
sometimes half the length of the achenium._Var. 2. calva (E. cal- 
va, Torr .): bristles wanting; tubercle short, nearly as in the true E. 
palustris, but rather narrower. — Very common, in water, when it is 
pretty stout and tall, or in low grassy grounds, when it is slender and 
lower. Var. 3, Watertown, New York, Dr. Crawe. (A variety with¬ 
out bristles is known in Europe.) June —Aug._Some forms well 
accord with the European plant, but they commonly run more or less 
into the var. 1. 
* * Achenium triangular: style 2-cleft: bristles sometimes few and 
fragile or wanting. (Scirpidium, Nees, nearly.) 
■*“ Spike ovate or cylindrical-oblong , much broader than the filiform or 
