Oyrervs. | CYPERACES. oo gi 
Bahraich (Harsukh) ; Meerut (Thomson); Dehra Dun (Duthie, Gamble 
and others); Etawah; Pilibhit (Inayat); Kheri, Saharanpur, Agra, 
Ajmer (Lowrie): Distrrs.: Throughout India and all warm regions. 
15. C. esculentus, L. Sp. Pl. 67; F. B. I. vi, 616. 
Ap erect glabrous herb up to 20 ins. in height with slender subter- 
ranean stolons more or less covered with acute rather hard strongly 
veined scales and ending in ovoid to cylindrical edible tubers up 
to } in. in length. Stem-base pale brown, leaf-sheaths not fibrous, 
stems triquetrous, smooth, finely striated. Leaf-blades shorter than 
the stems, linear and gradually tapering in the upper part to a fine 
acuminate apex, $ to 3 in. in width. J/nflorescence primarily umbel- 
late, of sessile and peduncled spikes the rays up to 3 ins. in length, 
primary bracts about 4, unequal, leaf-like, the longest up to 4 ins. 
or more. Spikes rarely exceeding 1 in. and most often simple, the 
first glumes (or secondary bracts) of the lowest spikelets sometimes 
with a short narrow leafy blade. Spikelets linear, about 4 in. long 
or shorter, 7 in. wide; rachis slender with narrow hyaline wings. 
The two lowest glumes of each spikelet linear-lanceolate, acuminate. 
Flowering glumes boat-shaped, with a rounded or slightly emargi- 
nate apex, } in. long, ,4 in. in breadth when spread out, 3 lateral 
nerves on each side of the keel nerve. Stamens 3. Style divided 
to below the middle, with its three branches ,; in. long. Nut obo- 
void-ellipsoid in outline with 3 sharp angles, 7 in. long. 
Moradabad (Thomson); Dehra Dun (Duthie). Distrre.: From the 
Ganges Plain to the Nilgiri Mountains. S. Europe, Africa, America. 
16. C. pilosus, Vahl, Enum. ii (1806) p. 354; F. B. I. vi, 609 ; 
Prain, Beng. Pl. 1143. 
Perennial, stolons long with distant nodes and scales. Stems 2-3 ft. 
high, acutely triquetrous, clothed at the base with the loose mem- 
branous sheaths. Leaves }# of the length of the stem or sometimes 
exceeding it, }-} in. wide, scabrid on the margins. Inflorescence 
a simple or once compound umbel, primary rays usually about 2 in. 
long but variable sometimes 9 in. long, primary bracts 3-5, unequal, 
the longest up to 15 in. leaf-like, rachis of the spikes hispid-pilose. 
Spikelets 4-4 in. long, +}; in. broad, crowded, straw-colored or reddish, 
spreading at right angles to the rachis. The lowest glume usually 
converted into a setaceous bract of variable length. Flowering 
glumes scarcely yy in. long broadly ovate when spread flat, tip 
rounded but the obscure keel minutely excurrent, 3-7-nerved on the 
