11. Eriophorum.] 138. CYPERAGE.E. 



pound or decompound ii-regular umbels of brown narrowly ellipsoid 

 spikelets •2--3" long which are soon overtopped by the cotton-like 

 tufts of the hypogynous " bristles." Xut linear, 3-gonous, beaked, 

 smooth, -1" {Clarke says brown-black, mine are pale). 



It extends from Kumaoii to Chittagon^, hut chiefly in low hilly tracts, and 

 Griffith's si ecimen from Bengal is from cliffs. It probably occurs (and I think I 

 have seen it theie but can find no specimen) in the Ramnagar Hills of Champaran. 

 n., Fr. Sept.-Nov. 



12. FUIRENA, Rotth. 



Mostlj^ hairy sedges leafy to above the middle or to the top. Leaves 

 grass-like. Spikelets clustered, many-flowered, uppermost glumes 

 tabescent. Glumes spirally imbricate all round, strongly aristate, 

 hairy in upper half. Hypogynous bristles 6, 2 -seriate (referred to as 

 sepals and petals respectively) or reduced or 0, sepals bristle-like, 

 petals often with slender claw and broadly expanded top. Stamens 

 3 or 2. Style long, glabrous, deciduous (above the base), stigmas 

 3 long. Nut small, 3-quetrous, more or less pedicelled, usually 

 narrowed at top. 



Annual. Petals large quadrate with slender claw .... \. glomeraia. 

 Perennial. Petals oblong-obovate sessile 2. umbeJlafa. 



1. F. glomerata. Lam. 



An erect tufted sedge usually about 1 ft. high leafy to the top Avith 

 the stems or leaf-sheaths patently hairj-. Leaves 2-5" usually densely 

 hairy. Spikelets greenish subcapitate, heads 1-3 (rarely up to 10) 

 axillary and terminal. Glumes about -06" long (without the awn) 

 orbicular obovate hairy with a green hairy dorsal awn nearly as long 

 as the blade. Petals large quadrate with slender claw, -05" long, 

 persistent. Nut rather shorter than the petals, brown, equally 3- 

 quetrous, elliptic obovoid with a small linear apiculus (style-base). 



In rice-fields, common. BihKv, J. B.U.\ Ranchi, Gaw6/e! Singbhum ! Maii- 

 bhum, Ball ! Giridih (Hazaribagh), Frain ! Sambalpur ! Probably in all districts, 

 n., Fr. Oct.-Jan. Annual. 



Leaves often "2" broad, linear, acute or tapering from base to apex, sheaths 

 rather inflated. Bracts exactly like the leaves, not much overtopping the clusters. 

 Si^ikelets ■25--3" before the fall of the glumes, ultimately' often "45" with rather 

 stout rhachilla marked with regular areoles with acute edges. Glumes with 3 

 distinct nerves converging to the awn. Petals often apiculate, blade longer than 

 claw. 



2. F. umbellata, Rottb. 



Very similar to F. glomerata in general appearance, but it has a 

 long creeping rhizome, usually more compound umbels and is par- 

 ticularly distinguished by the shape of the " bristles " or petals which 

 are oblong-obovate sub-sessile, 3-nerved, truncate or very obtuse at 

 the top and sometimes with a fine apiculus or mucro. 



There are no specimens from our area, but as it occurs in the Sikkim Tarai, 

 Central Provinces, Madras and Eastern Bengal, it most probably occurs. Clarke 

 says " throughout India except the drier ISorth-west." Fl., Fr. Sept. -Dec. 



13. LIPOCARPHA, Br. 



Glabrous sedges leafy only near the base, bearing a single head of 

 few (usually 1-b) spikelets with very many 2-sexual flowers. Glumes 



928 



