SEDGE FAMILY. 259 
8. FIMBRISTYLIS Vahl, Enum. 2: 285. 1806. 
Annual or perennial sedges. Culms leafy below. Spikelets umbellate or capitate, 
terete, several to many-flowered, subtended by a 1-many-leaved involucre, their scales spirally 
imbricated all around, mostly deciduous, all fertile. Perianth none. Stamens 1-3. Style 
2-3-cleft, pubescent or glabrous, its base much enlarged, falling away from the summit of 
the achene at maturity. Achene lenticular, biconvex, or 3-angled, reticulated, cancellate, or 
longitudinally ribbed or striate in our species. [Greek, in allusion to the fringed style of 
some species. ] 
A large genus, the species widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. Besides the 
following, some 4 others occur in the southern and western parts of North America. 
Style 2-cleft; achene lenticular or biconvex. 
Culms 8’-3° tall; spikelets umbellate; style mostly pubescent. 
Perennial; leaves involute. 
Scales coriaceous, shining, glabrous. 
Scales membranous, dull, puberulent. 
Annual; roots fibrous; leaves flat. 
Culms 1’-4' tall, very slender; spikelets capitate; style glabrous below. 
Style 3-cleft; achene 3-angled. 
F. spadicea. 
F. castanea. 
F. laxa. 
F. Vahlii. 
. F. autumnalis. 
1. Fimbristylis spadicea (I,.) Vahl. Stiff Fimbristylis. (Fig. 604.) 
Scirpus spadiceus I. Sp. Pl. 51. 1753. 
Fimbristylis spadicea Vahl, Enum. 2: 294. 1806. 
OAFwn 
Perennial by a thickened base, glabrous, 
culms stiff, slender, 3-angled, wiry, 1°-3° tall, 
usually longer than the strongly involute rigid 
leaves. Leaves about 1/’ wide when unrolled, 
their sheaths dark brown; leaves of the involu- 
cre 3-6, erect, the longer sometimes exceeding 
the usually compound umbel; umbel several- 
rayed, the rays nearly erect, 2’-6’ long; cen- 
tral spikelets of the umbels and umbellets ses- 
sile, the others pedicelled; spikelets ovoid or 
ovoid-cylindric, acute, 214’’-6’’ long, about 1/’ 
in diameter; scales oval, obovate, or orbicular, 
obtuse or subacute, coriaceous, glabrous, shin- 
ing, dark brown with a green midvein; stamens 
2; style 2-cleft; achene lenticular, obovate, 
brown, reticulated. 
In marshes and shallow water, Virginia to Flor- Pr 
ida, near the coast. Widely distributed in tropical om» 4 
America. July-Sept. 2 \\ Sy 
2. Fimbristylis castanea (Michx.) Vahl. Marsh Fimbristylis. (Fig. 605.) 
Scirpus castaneus Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1:31. 1803. 
Fimbristylis castanea Vahl, Enum, 2: 292. 1806. 
Fimbristylis spadicea var. castanea A. Gray, Man. 
Ed. 5, 566. 1867. 
Perennial by a thick base, culms slender, 3- 
angled, 8’—2° tall, usually exceeding the leaves. 
Leaves involute, less than 1’’ wide when un- 
rolled, their sheaths green and more or less 
pubescent; leaves of the involucre 2-4, short; 
umbel simple or compound, the rays 1%4/—2/ 
long; central spikelets sessile; spikelets oblong, 
obtuse or subacute, 3’/-5’’ long, 1//-1'%4’” in 
diameter; scales thin, brown with a lighter 
midvein, broadly oblong or nearly orbicular, 
dull, puberulent, obtuse or mucronate; stamens 
2-3; style 2-cleft; achene obovate or oblong, 
biconvex, pale brown, longitudinally striate 
and reticulated. 
On salt meadows, southern New York to Florida 
and Louisiana. Also in wet soil in the interior 
from Michigan and Illinois to Kansas and Texas, 
and in tropical America. July—Sept. 
