North American Cyperacea. "289 



•Kyllingia maculata, Miclix.! fl. 1. p. 29; Pursh,fl. 1. p. 47; Elliott, 

 ■^k. p. 55. 



Mariscus maculatus, R<em. S^ Schult. syst. 2. p. 243. 



Root fibrous. Culms 3 — 8 inches high, cespitose, smooth. Leaves 

 ■scarcely aline wide, shorter than tlie culm, often involute. Involucre of 



2 long leaves, and one very short one. Spikes usually 3, a little larger 

 than a pepper-corn, closely aggregated. Scales very numerous, rather 

 loosely imbricated, concealing the spikelets, persistent, marked with 

 minute oblong red dots, particularly on the inner side; midrib green. 

 Spikelet composed of 2 squamulsc ; lhe interior obtuse, often dotted like 

 the scales ; the exterior (laext tlie scale) very thin and delicate. Stamen 

 always solitary. Style slender, longer than the nut. Nut 3 -sided, bet 

 the sides and angles are so rounded that it appears nearly cylindrical, 

 contracted into a neck near the base, 3'ellow. 



Hab. " Wet springy land, Georgia; common in the vicinity 

 of Savannah," Dr. Baldwin!; Middle Florida, Dr. Chapman! 



Obs. To the L. Humholdt'uma of Nees ab Esenbeck 

 '{Hypoehjtrimi argentcum^ Kimth, syn. 1. p. 149, not -of Vahl,) 

 this species bears a strong resemblance, but it differs in the 

 scales, which are acute but not acuminate, and in the style 

 which is bifid, not 3-cleft. Michaux states that our plant 

 resembles Kyllirigia triceps, but it undoubtedly belongs to the 

 present genus, while K. triceps is a true Kyllingia. Muhlen- 

 berg's K. triceps appears to be merely K. pumila. 



6. FUIRENA, Rotrb. 



Scales of the spike imbricated on all sides, one-flowered, 

 awned. Perigynium single or double; the exterior (calyx), 

 when present; consisting of 3 bristles, the interior (corolla) of 



3 unguiculate petaloid laminae, alternating with the bristles. 

 Stamens 3. Style 3-cleft. Nut triquetrous, pointed with 

 the remains of the style, abruptly contracted into a pedicel at 

 the base. — Culms mostly simple, erect, articulated, angular, 

 leafy (rarely with nearly naked sheaths) ; spikes subumbellate, 

 axillary and terminal, mostly squarrose ; external lamina of the 

 scale produced into a short awn or bristle. 



Fuirena, Rottb. gram. p. 70. t. 19 ; Juss. gen. p. 26 ; LamJc. 

 ill. 1. p. 150. t, 39; R. Brown, prodr. 1. p. 220; Kvnth, syn. 



