North American Cyperacecc. 263 



The variety j8. is referred to this species with some hesita- 

 tion. My specimen of it is not sufficiently mature to exhibit the 

 character of the fruit. It resembles C. speciosus, but wants the 

 distinct foliaceous involucels. 



15. CyPERUS STENOLEPIS. 



Umbel simple; rays 3-4, elongated; ochreae truncate, point- 

 less ; spikes ovate ; spikelets much crowded, spreading horizon- 

 tally or somewhat reflexed, linear, compressed, 5 — 8-flowered, 

 the florets distant and free nearly to their base ; rachis subterete, 

 slender, flexuous ; scales narrowly linear, nerved, involute to- 

 wards the summit when old ; interior scales very narrow, adnate ; 

 nut oblong-linear, triangular. 



C. distans, Pursh,Jl. 1. p. 53? (not of Linn.) 



Cuiin about 3 feet high, triquetrous, rather slender. Leaves 12 — 18 

 inches long, 2 — 3 lines wide. Umbel somewhat spreading ; rays 3 — 5 

 inches long. Involucre 3 — 4-leaved. Spikes nearly 2 inches long and an 

 inch in diameter, composed of numerous (40 — 60) spikelets which spread 

 on all sides. Spikelets 6 — 7 lines long. Scales very narrow, and in 

 contact only at their base ; dusky yellow, the margins, particularly in the 

 mature spikelet, involute. Interior scales hyaline, adnate to the rachis 

 and the scale above. Statnens 3. Style 3-cleft one-third of its length. 

 Nut scarcely one-third the length of the scale, acute, brown, covered 

 with lines of elevated dots. 



Hab. Wilmington, North Carolina, Mr. Curtis ! 



Obs. Nearly allied to C. strigosus, but easily distinguished 

 by its loosely flowered spikelets and narrow scales. 



Dr. Baldwin in his MS. notes on Cyperus remarks that he 

 has seen a species of this genus in Georgia, resembling C 

 strigosus, but differing in its distant expanding florets. 



16. Cyperus speciosus, Vahl. 



Umbel compound, many-rayed, the rays distinctly alternate ; 

 partial umbels shorter than the many-leaved[|involucels ; ochreae 

 deeply 2-parted ; heads oblong ; spikelets spreading horizontally, 

 '6 — 8-flowered; scales oblong, obtuse, appressed. 



VoL> III. 34 



