CXLVI. CYPERACE^. 903 



2-3 empty, the nest above fertile, the upper empty. Disk at the base- 

 of the ovary annular (rarely obscure), often enlarged and lobed in fruit. 

 Ovary minute ; style slender ; stigmas 3. Fruit a globose or oblong 

 nut, usually white and polished, smooth or sculptured. — Disteib. Most 

 tropical and subtropical regions ; species about 160. 



Disk of female flowers 1. S. llihosperma. 



Disk of female flowers cupular or 3-lobed. 



Disk cupular 2. S. annularis. 



Disk 3-lobed. 



Leaves x'o~s in- broad. 



Nut tesseilately caucellate 3. S. tessellafa. 



Nut smooth 4. S. hebecarpa. 



Leaves i-| in. broad. 



Disk 1-eeriate; nut globose, -^^ in. in diam 5. S. hijlora. 



Disk 2-seriate ; nut ellipsoid, ^^ in. long G. S. Btocksiana. 



1. Scleria lithosperma, Sw. Frodr. (1788) p. 18. Ehizome hard, 

 elongate, horizontal, nodose ; root-fibres slender, wiry ; stems not tufted, 

 l|-3 ft. long, very slender, trigonous, smooth. Leaves as long as or 

 shorter than the stem, narrowly linear, ^-yV in. broad, narrowed to the 

 subobtuse tip ; sheaths trigonous, closed, glabrous or hairy. Spikelets 

 few, subsolitary, distant on the filiform rhachis and on the few distant 

 branches of slender terminal and axillary subspiciform panicles, dark- 

 brown ; bisexual spikelets many ; bracts and bracteoles long, slender, 

 almost capillary. Fruiting spikelets^ in. long. Glumes broadly ovate, 

 cuspidal ely acuminate. Disk-lobes obsolete. Nut y\j- in. long, broadly 

 ellipsoid, obtusely trigonous, smooth, polished, white ; style about -^ in. 

 long ; stigmas 3, longer than the style. Fl. B. I. v. 6, p. 685 ; Grah. 

 Cat. p. 2 33; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 288; Boeck. in Linnjea, v. 38 (1874) 

 p. 451 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 5, p. 96 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 

 (1901) p. 432; Prain, Beng. PI. p. 1132.— Flowers : Dec. 



KoNKAN : Matheran, Woodrow. Kanara : Talhot, 562, ex C. B. Clarke. — Distrib. 

 Throughout India (except the West arid area) ; Ceylon, most warm regions except 

 Continental Africa. 



2. Scleria annularis, Kunth, Emim. v. 2 (1837) p. 359. Eoot 

 fibrous; rhizome 0; stem erect, 1-2 ft. high, compressed, triquetrous, 

 slender, scabrous at the apex with spinules pointing downwards. Leaves 

 6-12 by \ in., linear, subacute, keeled, 3-nerved, the margins and keel 

 scabrous ; sheaths 3-winged, hairy or glabrous. Panicles axillary, 

 remote, subspicate, rather dense, oblong, 1-2 in. long ; bracteoles con- 

 spicuous, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, leaf-like. Spikelets oblong, acute. 

 Glumes i in. long, reddish-brown, ovate-lanceolate, cuspidate, acutely 

 keeled, the keel spiuulose above. Nut -jL in. long, ellipsoid, terete or 

 obscurely trigonous, rounded at the apex, smooth, white. Disk shallowly 

 cup-shaped, small, brown, not lobed, closely appressed to the base of the 

 nut. Fl. B. I. V. 6, p. 687 ; Boeck. in Linnaea, v. 38 (1874) p. 456 ; 

 Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 432. 



KoNKAN : Stocks \, Law\ Kanaka: Law\ — Distrib. India (N.-West, Central 

 India, W. Peninsula) ; China. 



3. Scleria tessellata, Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4 (1805) p. 315. Eoot 

 fibrous, the fibres very dark, nearly black ; stems many, tufted, slender, 

 1-2| ft. long, triquetrous. Leaves 6-12 by jL in. or less, linear, sub- 



