108 A FLORA OF MANILA 
In open grass lands, waste places, etc., fl. most of the year; widely dis- 
tributed in the Philippines. Most tropical and warm countries. 
2. K. monocephala Rottb. 
A more or less tufted glabrous plant from creeping rootstocks. Stems 
10 to 40 cm high. Leaves up to 15 em in length or longer, 3 to 4 mm wide, 
the bracts similar. Heads ovoid, simple, white, 8 to 18 mm long. Spikelets 
very numerous, 3 to 3.5 mm long, the flowering glume distinctly winged 
along the keel. Nut up to 1.5 mm long. 
In open waste places, grass lands, lawns, etc., fl. all the year; eiroushia 
the Philippines. All warm and tropical countries. 
2. PYCREUS Beauvois 
Tufted or scattered, annual or perennial, mostly slender plants, leafy 
only at the base, the bracts subtending the inflorescence leaf-like. Inflores- 
cence umbellate or subcapitate. Spikelets compressed, linear to oblong, 
usually numerous; glumes many, arranged in two ranks, imbricate. Nut 
laterally compressed; style-branches 2. 
Species about 50 in all warm and temperate regions, about 5 in the 
Philippines. / 
1. Annual, slender; glumes 1.5 mm long........0000000000-ee 1. P. nitens 
1. Perennial, stouter; glumes 2 mm long. . 
2. Spikelets ascending; nut rounded or truncate.................. 2. P. odoratus 
2. Spikelets spreading; nut apiculate..........0.20000020 3. P. eragrostis 
1. P. nitens (Vahl) Nees. 
A small, slender, erect, tufted annual, 5 to 20 cm high, the leaves slender, 
narrow, shorter than the stems. Umbels simple or reduced to one head, 
subtended by few leaf-like bracts. Spikelets usually pale, 5 to 30 in a 
spike or head, narrowly oblong, 5 to 8 mm long, each composed of from 
8 to 30, 1.5 mm long, mucronate glumes. Nut compressed, about 0.6 
mm long. 
In open grass lands, gardens, etc., fl. Aug.—Jan.; widely distributed in 
the Philippines. Tropical Asia, Africa, Malaya, and Australia. 
2. P. odoratus (L.) Urban (P. polystachyus Beauv.). 
An erect, glabrous, rather slender perennial, the stems 20 to 70 cm high. 
Leaves mostly shorter than the stems, sometimes equaling them. Umbels 
simple or reduced to one head, subtended by leaf-like bracts, the rays 
1 to 7. Spikes dense, composed of from 10 to 20 ascending spikelets. 
Spikelets brown, linear, 1 to 1.5 cm Jong. Glumes oblong, 15 to 30 or 
more, about 2 mm long, obtuse. Nuts oblong, black, 1 mm long, rounded 
or truncate. , 
Var. paniculatus (Rottb.) Merr. (P. polystachyus var. lawiflorus Benth.). 
Differing from the species in its lax, open inflorescence which is about 
10 cm long, the spikelets also longer. 
In open waste places, lawns, ete., common, flowering all the year; 
throughout the Philippines. All warm regions, especially near the sea. 
3. P. eragrostis (Vahl) Merr. (Cyperus eragrostis Vahl). 
Erect, tufted, glabrous, 15 to 50 em high, the leaves narrow, much 
shorter than the stems, somewhat flaccid, the involucral bracts leaf-like, 
long and slender. Umbels simple, the rays 1 to 5, sometimes reduced 
