SEDGE FAMILY. 277 
2. Rynchospora pallida M. A. Curtis. Pale Beaked-rush. (Fig. 649.) 
Rhynchospora pallida M. A. Curtis, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 
7: 409. 1849. 
Rootstocks slender, culms sharply triangular, 1%4°- 
2%° tall. Leaves 1%4//-1/’ wide, flattish, nearly 
smooth, the lowest reduced to many-nerved lanceo- 
late acuminate scales; spikelets numerous, spindle- 
shaped, narrow, 2//-3’’ long, aggregated in a com- 
pound convex terminal head, or occasionally also in 
a filiform-stalked cluster from the upper axil; upper- 
most leaves subulate, little exceeding the spikelets; 
scales pale greenish brown, lanceolate, acuminate; 
bristles minute and early deciduous, or wanting; 
style 2-cleft; achene lenticular, 
by a short tubercle. 
In pine barren bogs, New Jersey to North Carolina. 
Aug.-Sept. 
obovate-oblong, 
smooth, brown, somewhat shining, %/’ long, tipped 
3. Rynchospora oligantha A. Gray. Few-flowered Beaked-rush. (Fig. 650.) 
Rhynchospora oligantha A. Gray, Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 
212. 1835. 
Rootstocks short, culms tufted, almost thread-like, 
leafy only toward the base, 6/-16/ tall. Leaves fili- 
form, resembling and shorter than the culm or some- 
times equalling it; spikelets 1-4, terminal, narrowly 
oblong, acute, 3/’—4/’ long, sessile or peduncled, sub- 
tended by 1 or 2 filiform bracts; scales ovate, pale 
brown, acute, cuspidate; bristles usually 6, densely 
plumose below the middle, upwardly scabrous above, 
equalling or shorter than the achene; style 2-cleft; 
achene obovoid-oblong, obtuse, turgid-lenticular, 
pale brown, dull, transversely wrinkled; tubercle 
with a flat depressed border and a flattened conic 
acute central projection about one-fifth as long as 
achene. 
In wet sandy soil, Delaware to Florida and Texas, 
near the coast. June-Aug. 
4. Rynchospora alba (I,.) Vahl. White Beaked-rush. (Fig. 651.) 
Schoenus albus I. Sp. Pl. 44. 
Rynchospora alba Vahl, Enum. 
Pale green, rootstocks short, culms slender or 
almost filiform, glabrous, 6/—20/ tall. 
tle-like, (’/-'4’” wide, shorter than the culm, the 
lower very short; spikelets several or numerous, in 
1-4 dense corymbose terminal and axillary clusters, 
narrowly oblong, acute at both ends, 2//-3// long; 
scales ovate or ovate-lanceolate, white, acute; bris- 
tles 9-15, downwardly barbed, slender, about as 
long as the achene and tubercle; style 2-cleft; 
achene obovate-oblong, smooth, pale brown, lentic- 
ular; tubercle triangular-subulate, flat, one-half as 
long as the achene. 
In bogs, Newfoundland to Alaska, south to Florida: 
Also in northern 
Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon. 
Europe and Asia. June-Aug. 
36. 
1806, 
Leaves bris- 
