North American Cyperacece. 273 



I have an opportunity of seeing more specimens of it. If its 

 characters prove to be constant, it may take the name of C. 

 Lecontii. My Florida specimen has longer spikelets, and 

 more numerous florets than the plant sent to me by Dr. Ingalls ; 

 but in other respects there is no essential difference. 



26. Cyperus leptos, Schidtes. 

 Culm triquetrous, fragile ; umbel compound or decompound, 

 many-rayed; involucre 2-leaved, one or both of the leaves 

 shorter than the umbel ; involucels ; spikelets 3 — 5 in a loose 

 head, linear-lanceolate, 12 — 20-flowered; scales ovate-lanceo- 

 late, acute, carinate ; nut minute, (white) depressed, triangular, 

 verrucose. 



C. leptos, Schult. mant. 2. p. 105. 



C. gracilis, Muhl.! gram. p. 18. (notof iJ. Broivn ;) Elliott, sk. 1, p. 68; 

 Spreng. syst. 1. p. 220. 



Root fibrous. Culm 1 — 2 feet high, tender and herbaceous, often clothed 

 with several leafless sheaths at the base. Leaves radical, shorter than 

 the culm. Umbel of 12 — 15 filiform rays, generally compound and 

 often decompound. Involucre 2-leaved ; the leaves very unequal. 

 Ochrecs obliquely truncate. Spikelets 4 — 5 lines long, very slender, 

 usually about 12 -flowered, but sometimes bearing as man^' as 20 or 

 more florets. Scales reddish brown, yellow on the side, membrana- 

 ceous, indistinctly 3-nerved, slightly mucronate. Interior scales narrow. 

 Stament 3. Style 3-cleft a little more that one-third of the way down ; 

 the divisions recurved. Nut short and thick, shining, covered with 

 minute warts. 



Hab. In damp soils, North Carolina, to Alabama. Near 

 Wilmington, North Carolina, Mr. Curtis!; South Carolina, 

 Elliott!; Georgia, Muhlenberg!, Le Conte ! ; Middle Florida, 

 J)r. Chapman!; Alabama, Dr. Gates! 



Obs. Very near a Cyperus from Surinam, in my herba- 

 rium, and only to be distinguished by its more acute scales. 

 and shorter verrucose nut. 



27. Cyperus inflexus, Muhl. 



Umbel 1 — 2-rayed, contracted or sessile ; involucre 3-leaved, 

 very long ; spikelets collected into ovate heads, oblong-linear, 



