CYPERACEAE 144 
together at the ends of the branchlets, 3 to 10 mm long, green, brownish, 
or purplish, 3- to 10-flowered or more. Glumes ovate, mucronate, 3- to 
5-nerved about 1.8 mm long. Nut oblong or ellipsoid, 1.5 mm long, 3-angled. 
In shaded ravines, San Francisco del Monte, fl. Aug.—Feb.; widely dis- 
tributed in the Philippines. All tropical regions. 
5. C. iria L. c 
A tufted glabrous annual 10 to 70 cm high, the leaves long or short, 
2 to 5 mm wide. Umbels 3 to 30 cm in diameter, the rays few to many, 
long or short. Spikes loosely spicate, the spikelets numerous, lax or some- 
what crowded, yellow or brown, 3 to 10 mm long, the glumes 6 to 20, 
obovate, hardly imbricate, about 1.2 mm ie 3- to 5-angled, oblong-obo- 
void, as long as the glumes. 
In open wet grass lands, fl. all the year; ‘awadhaak the Philippines. 
Warmer parts of the Old World; a characteristic rice-paddy weed. 
6. C. compressus L. 
A glabrous, green, densely tufted plant, 15 to 50 cm high, the leaves 
often nearly as long as the stems, sometimes much shorter, 2 to 4 mm 
broad. Rays of the inflorescence up to 8 cm long, spreading, the bracts 
often long, leaf-like. Spikes of from 3 to 10 crowded spikelets. Spike- 
lets usually greenish, 1 to 3 cm long, compressed, 10- to 50-flowered flowering 
glumes about 3.5 mm long, prominently acuminate, densely imbricate. 
Nuts obovoid, sharply 3-angled, concave on the faces, about 1.5 mm long. 
In open grass lands, Masambong, San Pedro Macati, Pasay, etc., fl. July— 
Jan.; throughout the Philippines. Tropics generally. 
7. C. pilosus Vahl. 
A somewhat stout, erect, loosely tufted plant, 0.4 to 0.8 m high, glabrous 
except the pubescent rachis of the spikes. Leaves often three-fourths as 
long as the stem, 4 to 7 mm wide, the bracts longer than the umbellate 
inflorescence, leaf-like. Inflorescence 6 to 20 cm in diameter, compound, 
the rays long and short. Spikelets 5 to 10 mm long, narrow, compressed, 
spreading when ripe, the glumes 8 to 20, about 1.8 mm long, close or remote, 
ovate, pointed. Nut acutely 3-angled, ovoid, acute, about 1 mm long. 
_ In open grass lands, fi. all the year; widely distributed in the Philippines. 
Tropical Asia and Africa through Malaya to Australia. 
8. C. malaccensis Lam. Balangot (Tag.). 
A tall, coarse, glabrous perennial from creeping rhizomes, the stems 
0.5 to 1.5 m high, stout, sharply 3-angled, almost 3-winged at the top. 
Leaves few or none, 3 cm long or less, the 2 to 5 bracts subtending the 
inflorescence leaf-like, up to 20 cm long. Umbels 5 to 15 cm in diameter, 
usually congested. Spikelets somewhat crowded, linear, 1 to 2 cm long, 
the glumes 15 to 30, oblong, obtuse, about 2 mm long. Nut narrowly 
oblong, about 1.7 mm long. 
In brackish swamps, etc., fl. July—Dec.; throughout the Philippines along 
tidal streams. Tropical Africa and Asia through Malaya to Polynesia and 
Australia. 
9. C. distans L. 
A rather stout, erect, scarcely tufted, glabrous, stoloniferous perennial 
0.4 to 1 m high, the stems triangular, covered with sheaths below. Leaves 
often as long as the stem, 4 to 6 mm wide. Umbels diffuse, compound, 10 
to 30 cm in diameter, the rays long and short, up to 20 em in length, 
