ae eee 
Pe ae 
SEDGE FAMILY. 265 
1o. Scirpus Americanus Pers. Three-square. Chair-maker’s Rush. 
(Fig. 618.) wi 
Scirpus Americanus Pers. Syn. 1:68. 1805. 
Scirpus pungens Vahl, Enum, 2: 255. 1806. 
Perennial by long rootstocks, culms sharply tri- 
angular with concave sides or one of the sides 
nearly flat, erect, stiff, 1°-4° tall. DLeaves 1-3, 
narrowly linear, keeled, shorter than the culm; 
spikelets oblong-ovoid, acute, 4’’-6’’ long, capitate 
in clusters of 1-7, appearing as if lateral; involucral 
leaf solitary, slender, 114’-4’ long; scales broadly 
oyate, brown, often emarginate or sharply 2-cleft 
at the apex, the midvein extended into a subulate 
awn sometimes 1/’ long, the margins scarious, 
ciliolate or glabrous; bristles 2-6, downwardly 
barbed, shorter than or equalling the achene; 
stamens 3; style usually 2-cleft; achene obovate, 
plano-convex, smooth, dark brown, mucronate. 
In fresh water and brackish swamps throughout 
North America. Alsoin Chile. June-Sept. 
Scirpus Americanus longispicatus Britton, Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci, 11:78. 1892. 
Spikelets linear-cylindric, 5’’-12'’ long; bristles as long as the broadly obovate achene. South 
shore of Iake Ontario; Colorado and New Mexico. 
11. Scirpus Olneyi A. Gray. Olney’s 
Bulrush. (Fig. 619.) 
Scirpus Olneyi A. Gray, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. 5: 238. 
1845. 
Similar to the preceeding species, perennial by long 
stout rootstocks, culms stout, sharply 3-angled with 
concave sides, 2°-7° tall. Leaves 1-3, 1/-5’ long, 
or sheaths sometimes leafless; spikelets capitate in 
dense clusters of 5-12, oblong or oyoid-oblong, ob- 
tuse, 2'%4//-4’’ long, the solitary involucral leaf short, 
stout, erect, ™%/-11/’ long; scales oval or orbicular, 
dark brown with a green midvein, emarginate or mu- 
cronulate, glabrous; bristles usually 6, slightly shorter 
than or equalling the achene, downwardly barbed; 
stamens 2-3; style 2-cleft; achene obovate, plano- 
convex, brown, mucronate. 
In salt marshes, Rhode Island to Florida, Texas, 
Mexico and California, extending north along the Pacific 
Coast to Oregon. Also in Arkansas. June-Sept. 
12. Scirpus Torreyi Olney. ‘Torrey’s 
Bulrush. (Fig. 620.) 
Scirpus Torreyi Olney, Proc. Providence Frank. Soc. 
I: 32. 1847. 
Perennial by short or slender rootstocks, culms 
sharply 3-angled, rather slender, nodulose, 2°-4° 
tall. Leaves narrowly linear, elongated, nodulose, 
light green, sometimes overtopping the culm; 
spikelets 1-4, in an apparently lateral capitate clus- 
ter, oblong, narrowed at each end, 5//-8’ long; 
involucral leaf 2/-6’ long, erect; scales ovate 
or lanceolate, shining, chestnut-brown, glabrous, 
obtuse or the upper acute, mucronulate; bristles 
about 6, downwardly barbed, longer than the 
achene; stamens 3; style 3-cleft; achene obovoid, 
smooth, shining, light brown, 3-angled, one of its 
sides broader and flatter than the others. 
In swamps, Vermont to Rhode Island and Pennsyl- 
vania, west to Minnesota and Manitoba. July-Sept. 
a 
