North American Cyperaccec. 313 



Obs. Differs from the southern variety in the thicker cuhn, 

 longer and firmer bristles and more oblong nut, but resembles 

 it in the tendency to become prohferous* I have seen it with 

 spikes bearing more than 25 flowers, but the usual number is 

 from 1-5 to 20» The taller specimens resemble E. intermediay 

 but it is easily distinguished from that plant by the form of the 

 nut. 



18. ElEOCHARIS PYGMiEA. 



Culms setaceous, much compressed and sulcate (dwarf) ; 

 spike ovate, compressed, 3 — 6-flovvered; scales ovate; bristles 

 longer than the nut, retrorsely scabrous; nut ovate, acutely 

 triangular, smooth and shining ; tubercle very minute, con- 

 iluent. 



Scirpus ptisillus, Vulil^ enum. 2. p, 246? ; Pursh,fl. 1. p. 54 ; Torr. ! 

 fl,. p. 46 ; Rmn. 8f Schult. syst. 2. p. 124 ? (excluding tlie synonym of 

 JMichx. erroneously quoted *' S. capiliaris.'''') 



S.capillaceus, Elliott., sk~ 1. p. 75. (excl. syn. Michx.) 



Culms 1 — 2 inches high, often destitute of spikes at the summit, and 

 then appearing like subulate leaves. Spike a line and a half in length, 

 •broadly ovate, seldom perfecting more than one or two nuts. Lowest scale 

 ■empty, very obtuse ; the others more or less acute, especially when old. 

 Bristles 6, whitish, slender. Nut acute at each end, grayish white. 

 Tubercle extremely minute, forming merely a triangular apex to the 

 aiut. 



Hab. Salt marshes, and along the banks of rivers where 

 the salt water reaches ; growing in patches. Nea^: New York, 

 and on the sea coast of New Jersey. September. 



Obs. This species is frequently confounded with E. aclcu- 

 laris, a dwarf variety of which it greatly resembles ; but it differs 

 entirely from that species in its triquetrous, smooth (not oblong 

 and ribbed) nut. Some of our botanists hav^e supposed it to 

 be the Scirpus capillaceus of Michaux, but I have ascertain- 

 ed his plant to be E. acicularis. Whether the synonym of 



