Monograph of North American Rhynchospora. 195 



Chjstospora, Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth, Synop. PL 

 ^quinoc. Orh. Nov. I. p. 158. 



Ord. Nat. Cyperace^, R. Brown, De Cand., Agardh, 

 Bartling, etc. Cyperoide^, Juss. Calamari^, Linn. In 

 Syst. Sex. Triandria Moxogynia. 



Culms mostly simple, triangular or subterete, leafy. Injio- 

 rescence corymbose, paniculate or fasciculate, rarely capitate. 



Corymbs one or several, terminal or lateral, mostly single, 

 but sometimes 2 or 3 emerging from the same sheath. 



Spikelets ovate or lanceolate, few-flowered. 



Glumes (bracteae, Lindl. ; bracteolae, Bartl. ; squamce, R. 

 Brown,) loosely imbricated on every side, one-nerved, cuspi- 

 date ; the inferior ones shorter and empty. 



Pcrianthium,* {R. Brown, Bartl ing,) (prolongations of the 

 torus, De Cand.i) composed of a definite number of hypogy- 

 nous bristles. Bristles 5 — 12, but for the most part 6, in two 

 series : the 3 outer ones opposite to, and the 3 inner ones al- 

 ternate with, the stamens, plumose or denticulate-hispid ; the 

 hispidness directed either upward or downward. 



Stamens 3 ; rarely 2, 6, or 12. Filaments broad and flat. 



Anthers linear, exserted. 



Style 1, bifid (rarely entire), dilated at the base. 



Nut {R. Brown) (seed, Linn.; caryopsis, S^^reiig.; akenium, 

 Kunth,) crustaceous, ovate, obovate or rotund, lenticular or 

 subglobose ; often attenuated at the base, crowned and sub- 

 articulated with the indurated, persistent base of the style, or 



* " Perianthium nullum vel setosum, rariusve membranaceum 1 — 3 

 valve." R. Brown, Prodr. Fl. F. Holl. (in charac.famil. Cyperac.) 



I. p. 212. 



f " Le torus se prolonge quelquefois autour du fruit, ou sous forme 

 d'ecailles petaloides distinctes, comme dans I'ancolie ; ou des filets pUi- 

 formes, comme dans plusieurs cyperacees." De Cand. Organogr. Veg. 



II. p. 89. 



