13S. CYPEBACE^. 



bracts (glumes) forming "spikelets," spikelets often forming an inflores- 

 cence of a higher order. Bracteoles 0. Perianth of 6 scales or bristles 

 or of an indefinite number of hairs or (in Caricece female flower with 

 a utricle f enclosing the ovary). Stamens 3 (apparently the outer 

 whorl of a typical Monocotyledonous flower), anthers linear, basifixed 

 and apex entire.* Ovary superior, syncarpous, 2-3-carpellary, 

 1 -celled, style short or slender with 2-3 stigmatic branches, t Stigmas 

 not feathery. Ovule 1 basal erect anatropous. Fruit dry 1 -seeded 

 (nut), seed usually free from pericarp. Embryo small basal median, 

 enclosed by the floury albumen. 

 Mostly plants of damp placss or marshes. 



I. Tv\-o-sexual flower-bearing glumes in a spikelet always at 

 least one usually many above the 2-3 lowest empty 

 glumes. Nut neither bony nor enclosed in a utricle :— 



A. Fl. glumes all distichous (apparently few lowest in 



Courfoisia sometimes spiral). Bristles always : — 



1. Glumes many. Rhachilla of spikelet persistent : — 



a. Stigmas 3, nut more or less 3-gonous . . .1. Ci/perus. 

 I. Stigmas 2, nut not at all 3-gonous : — 



Nut laterally compressed 2. Pycreas. 



Nut dorsally compressed '6. Juncelln^. 



2. Glumes often few. Rhachilla of spikelet deciduous 



leaving a disc above the empty glumes : — 

 a. Stigmas 2. Spikelets always in capitate spikes, 



Gl. 4-5 only. Nut compressed .... i. KylU'iga. 

 I. Stigmas 3. Spikelets capitate or spicate : — 



Bisexual glumes 1-12, not winged . . . .5. Mariscux. 



Bisexual glumes 1-3 onlj^, prominently winged . 6. Coiirtoigia. 



B. Flowering glumes many spirally arranged or some- 



times lower only sub-distichous. Bristles often 

 present: — 



1. Style base swollen over a button-like apiculus of the 



nut, a constriction between the apiculus and 



nut : — 

 a. Leaves 0. Bristles nearly always pi-esent . . 7. Eleocharis. 

 h. Leaves usuallj^ present at base of stem. Bristles 



0: — 



Style persistent flat and hairy, or if deciduous 



not leaving a prominent button on the nut. L. 



glabrous 8. Fimhi-htylis. 



Stj^le linear glabrous, deciduous and leaving a 



button on the nut. L. or their sheaths with 



fine hairs 9. Bulhostylh. 



2. Style-base passing gradually into the nut (some- 



times deciduous a little above the base leaving 

 a small apiculus). Bristles or scales often 

 present : — 



Bristles, linear or filiform or 10. Scirpus. 



Bristles cut into numerous capdlary segments . 11- Eriophorum. 

 Bristles 6, inner 3 with expanded sub-petaloid tips . 12. Fuirenu. 

 Bristles 2, scale-like elliptic and enclosing the nut . 13. Liphocarpha. 

 C. Fl. glumes few, only the next above the 3 or i empty 2- 

 sexual, rarely also a second 2-sexual. Lower glumes 

 distichous, uppermost spiral: — 

 Nut beaked by the persistent dilated style base . . 14 Ehynchospora, 

 II. Two-sexual flowers 0. Spikes or spikelets 1-2-sexual : — 

 Spkts. with 1 fern. fl. and 1 or more male or entirely 1- 

 sexual. Nut bony usually polished, not enclosed in a 

 utricle 15. Sderia. 



t For the morphology of the " utricle " see Carex. 



* Compare Gvamiyiece. 



t Referred to shortly as stigmas, the shaft or haft only being called the style. 



