CXLA^I. CYPEEACEvE. 887 



round the rhachilla, 1-2 lowest and often the uppermost empty ; hypo- 

 gynous bristles 0. Stamens 1-3 ; anthers linear, obtuse or apiculate. 

 Ovary obovoid ; style slender, glabrous; stigmas 3. Truit an obovoid 

 obtuse trigonous smooth nut, crowned by the persistent style-base. — 

 DiSTRiB. Species about 70, in most warm regions. 



The name Stenophi/Ilus [Raf. Neog. (1825) p. 4] is prior to the name 

 Bulbosti/lls, Kunth (1837), as pointed out by Dr, N. L. Britton in 

 " The Sedges of Jamaica," published in the ' Bulletin of the Jamaica 

 Department of Agriculture,' v. 5, Suppl. 1, p. 1. 



1. Stenophyllus barbata {Scu-jjus), Rotth. Descnj). et Icon. (1773^ 

 p. 52. A slender annual 3-12 in. higb ; stems tufted, filiform, glabrous, 

 striate. Leaves about j as long as the stem, capillary, acuminate, the 

 margins involute, scaberulous upwards ; sheaths short, membranous, 

 with bearded mouths. Spikelets ^-i in. long, few-flowered, oblong- 

 lanceolate, reddish-brown, crowded in a terminal head -j— | in. in diam. ; 

 bracts shorter than or rarely exceeding the spikelets ; rhachilla stout. 

 Glumes -^ in. long, ovate, laterally compressed, boat-shaped, loosely 

 imbricate, acute or with the stout acute keel ending in a mucro. 

 Stamen 1 ; anther linear, subacute. Nut -^^ in. long, globosely obovoid, 

 trigonous with prominent angles, crowned with the minute base of the 

 style, smooth, pale straw-colored ; style slender ; stigmas 3. Biilbo- 

 stylis barbata, Kunth, Enum. v. 2 (1837) p. 208 ; C. B. Clarke, in Hook. f. 

 n. B. I. y. 6, p. 651; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 5, p. 66; Woodr. in Journ. 

 Bomb. Nat. V. 13 (1901) p. 432; Prain, Beng. PI. p. 1156. Scirpus 

 harbatus, Eottb. Descrip. et Icon. (1773) p. 62, t. 17, fig. 4 ; Boeck. in 

 Linnsea, v. 36 (1870) p. 751. — Flowers : July. 



S. M. Country : Badami, Woodrow. Sind : Pinwill ! — Distkib. Throughout India ; 

 Ceylon, warm regions. 



6. ELEOCHARIS, E. Br. 



Glabrous herbs ; stems tufted, simple, erect, embraced by one or 

 more membranous truncate sheaths. Leaves obsolete, or, rarely, a 

 herbaceous or membranous limb on the sheath. Inflorescence a single 

 solitary ovoid or cylindric many-flowered spikelet. Glumes imbricate 

 round the rhachilla, membranous or coriaceous, the lowest usually 

 empty, bract-like, but not longer than the spikelet ; the uppermost 

 empty, the remainder 2-sexual ; hypogynous bristles 8 or fewer, rarely 

 abseut, retrorsely scabrous or spinulose. Stamens 3-1 ; anthers linear 

 or linear-oblong, crested, muticous, or with an acicular tip. Ovary 

 orbicular-ovoid ; style with a swollen base ; stigmas 2-3, filiform or 

 flattened. Fruit a plano-convex or trigonous nut, crowned by the 

 persistent and swollen, pyriform conical or depressed style-base. — 

 DiSTRiB. Cosmopohtan; species 113. 



Glumes subrigid, smooth or striate, but keeled, concolorous ; 

 stems usually stout ; stigmas 2-3. 



Nut smooth; stems terete, transversely septate when dry. 1. E. plant agtnea. 

 Nut longitudinally striate ; stems subtriqueti'ous below 

 the spikelet, not septate. 



Spikelets acute ; glumes ovate, subacute 2. E. fistulosa. 



Spikelets obtuse ; glumes quadrate, rounded or sub- 

 truncate 3, E. spiralit. 



