CYPERACEA2. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 523 
slender culm: scales imbricated in several ranks, brownish or dark 
purple with scamous whitish margins, 1 -nerved, 
rr Bristles 4-6, longer than the achenium, stout and bearded downward. 
... I T ° rr ' Culms flattened and striate-grooved, 
wiry erect (1 -2° high), the sheath transversely truncate; spike 
ovoid- anceolate, acute, 12-20 -flowered; scales ovate, obtuse, rather 
rigid (light brown) ; achenium smooth, obovate-triangular, narrowed 
into the confluent pyramidal tubercle, which is overtopped by the 4- 
6 bnstles - Marshes, Penn Yan, New York, Sartwell, and Michigan. 
Rhode Island, Olney. Aug.—Allied to S. multicaulis. 
8. E. intermedia, Schultes. Culms capillary, wiry, striate- 
grooved, densely tufted from fibrous roots, diffusely spreading or re¬ 
clining (6'-12' long); spike oblong-ovate, aculish, loosely °10-18- 
flowered; scales oblong, obtuse, green-keeled, the sides purplish- 
brown; achenium smooth, obovoid with a narrowed base, beaked 
with a slender conical-awi-shaped distinct tubercle, which nearly 
equals the 6 bristles. (E. reclinata, Kunth!) - Wet slopes, common. 
July. — Spike 2"- 3» long. 
**’**’ Bjwtles 2-4, shorter than the achenium, fragile, or none. 
■ E. tenuis, Schultes, Culms almost capillary, erect, sharply 
i«y ular the sides concave; spike elliptical, acutish, 20- 
30-flowered; scales ovate, obtuse, chestnut-purple with a broad scari- 
ous margin and green keel; achenium obovate, roughened with close 
and fine projecting dots, crowned with a small depressed tubercle ; bris¬ 
tles 2-3, half the length of the achenium, or wanting. (E. elh'ptica 
Kunth !) — Wet meadows and bogs, common. July. — Spike 3" long! 
10. E. compressa, Sullivant. Culms flat , strongly striate 
slender, erect (1^° high) ; spike ovate-oblong, 20- 30-floicered; scales 
lanceolate-ovate, acute, dark purple with broad white pellucid margins 
and summit, the latter 2-cleft ; achenium obovale-pear-shaped, obtusely 
3-angled, obscurely wrinkled-pitted, crowned with a small globular-con¬ 
ical tubercle; bristles none (rarely a single rudiment). — Wet places 
Darby Plains, Central Ohio, Sullivant. - Culms tufted on running 
rootstocks, broad, strikingly flat, spirally twisted in drying : spike 
11- E. melanocarpa, Torr. Culms flattened, grooved, wiry, 
erect (9' -18' high); spike cylindrical-ovoid or oblong, thick, obtuse, 
densely many-flowered; scales roundish-ovate, very obtuse, brown! 
ish with broad scarious margins; achenium smooth, obovate-top-shaped, 
obtusely triangular, the broad summit entirely covered like a lid by the 
flatly depressed tubercle, which is raised in the centre into a short ab¬ 
rupt triangular point; bristles 3 or 4, shorter than the nut, fragile, 
often obsolete. —Wet sand, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rhode Island 
an ong Island. July. — Spike to long, the scales closely 
many-ranked, as in § 2 *. Achenium turning black. 
