North American Cyperacece. 269 



truncate, pointless ; heads loose, composed of 6 — 9 spikelets ; 

 spikelets linear-lanceolate, compressed, 5 — 7-flowered; rachis 

 winged with the inner scales ; scales ovate, rather obtuse when 

 old, somewhat distinct, hardly scarious on the margin ; nut 

 obovate-triquetrous, with a short acuminate point. 



C. mariscoides, var. setifolius, Torr.! in Gray's Gram. S^- Cyp. parti, 

 no. 75. 



Rhizoma creephig. Cuhns 8 — 12 inches high, growing in tufts, tough 

 and wiry, tuberous at the base. Leaves all radical, channelled, scarcely 

 half a line wide, shorter than the culm. Rays of the umbel almost ca- 

 pillary, 2 — 3 inches long, slightly spreading, each bearing a loose head 

 of chestnut-coloured spikelets. Involucre about 4-leaved ; 2 of the rays 

 a little longer than the umbel ; all of them setaceous. Spikelets 4 — 5 

 lines long, acute, at first slightly convex but flat when mature. Scales 

 nerved, not mucronate, closely imbricated in the young spikelet, at 

 length distinct at their tips. Interior scales lanceolate, persistent. Sta- 

 mens 3. Style 3-cleft half-way down. Nut two-thirds the length of 

 the scale, dotted, gray. 



Hab. Barren sandy fields. Common in the pine-region 

 of New Jersey, — September. 



Obs. This species, although nearly aUied to C.Jiliculmis, 

 differs sufficiently in its still more filiform culm, setaceous 

 leaves, umbel of many rays, and fewer-flowered spikelets, with 

 the rachis winged. 



22. Cyperus formosus, VaM. 



" Umbel compound ; spikelets capitate, ovate-lanceolate ; 

 involucre about 6-leaved, very long, scabrous on the margin." 



C. formosus, Valil. enum. 2. p. 327 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 51 ; Ram. 4* 

 Schult. syst. 2. p. 184. 



Culm as thick as a goosequill, acutely triangular, leafy at the base. 

 Leaves linear. Involucels 2 — 3-leaved, shorter than the partial umbels. 

 Ochrece short, truncate. Rays of the umbel about 12, an inch and a half 

 long, terete ; partial rays fewer, short. Spikelets about 8, half an inch 



long, 20 30-flowered, yellowish. Scales linear-lanceolate, acute. 



deciduous. — Valil. 



