216 Monograph of North Amencan Rhy7ichospora. 



R.fusca is said by Sprengel, Roera. & Schult. &c. to have 

 but three bristles ; there are six in all the specimens, both 

 European and American, which I have examined. A spe- 

 cimen from N. Carolina, collected by Mr. Curtis, appears to 

 differ from this species only in its smaller spikelets, but it is 

 too imperfect to be positively determined. 



27. Rhynchospora gracilenta. 



R. culmis foliisque gracillimis ; corymbis minimis, subconfertis, 

 terminali subsessili, lateralibus exserte pedunculatis ; nuce 

 laevi, ovata (vel orbiculato-ovata), lenticulari, setis sursum 

 hispidulis breviore ; tuberculo subulate, basi dilatato, nucem 

 subsequante. 



R. fusca. Gray, Gram. ^ Gyp. I. n. 93. (excl. syn.) 



Culm slender, sometimes almost capillary, 1 — 2 feet high, obscurely 

 triangular. Leaves linear-setaceous, 4 — 12 inches in length. Fas- 

 cicles 2 — 4, (often with a solitary terminal fascicle or subcapitate co- 

 rymb) lateral and terminal, small, few-flowered ; the uppermost sub- 

 sessile, the lower ones exsertly and often filiformly pedunculate. 

 Spikelets ovate. Glumes ovate, acute or mucronate, fuscous. Bristles 

 6, about half as long again as the nut, minutely hispid upward. Sta- 

 mens 3. Nut ovate or round ovate, smooth. Tubercle subulate, di- 

 lated at the base, compressed. 



Hab. Pine barrens of New Jersey : Aug. — Sept. Philips- 

 town, Putnam county, New York, Dr. Barratt; Salem, N. 

 Carolina, Schweinitz. 



Obs. This plant is proposed as a new species with some he- 

 sitation. It is possibly R. distans of Vahl, but is quite 

 different from Schcenus distans of Michaux. It does not dis- 

 agree with the specific character of S. axillaris Lani'k. III. 

 Gen. I. p. 137 ; but the character of that species is so brief 

 and general that it applies equally well to several other 

 species. 



28. Rhynchospora distans, Nutt. 



R. corymbis fasciculatis, lateralibus subdistantibus ; spiculis 



I 



