1 



326 North American Cyperacea. 



S. atrovirens, Muhl.! gram. p. 43; Wiild. enum. hort. Ber. 1. p. 79; 

 Ram. S^ Schult. syst. 2. p. 143; Sprcng. syst. 1. p. 211 ; Schult. mant. 

 2. p. 80; Link, enum. p. 43, (fide Schult.); Torr.! fi. 1. p. 49; Beck! 

 hot. 1. p. 426 ; Gray! Gram. Sf Cyp. part 2. no. 137; Darlingl.! fi. 

 Cest. ed. 2. p. 22. 



S. polyphyllus, Vahl, enum. 2. p. 274; Pursh, jl. 1. p. 57, (excl. syn.) ; 

 Spreng. syst. 1. p. 211. 



Culm obtusely triangular, about 2 feet high, leafy nearly to the summit, 

 smooth. Leaves one third of an inch broad, shorter than the culm, sca- 

 brous on the margin. Involucre mostly of 3 unequal leaves, the two 

 exterior a little longer than the umbel, resembling those of the culm. 

 Umbel very unequal, one or more of the rays elongated and erect, the 

 others shorter, and several so short that the heads of spikes appear almost 

 sessile. Spikes aggregated into heads of about 15 or 20 each, nearly 2 

 lines long, many-flowered. Scales broadly ovate, carinate, abruptly 

 acuminated and mucronate, at first olive-green and somewhat pubescent, 

 but when old, fuscous and nearly smooth. Bristles 6, slender, retrorsely 

 hispid, generally about as long, but sometimes one or two of them a little 

 longer than the nut. Stamens 3. Style moderately 3-cleft. iVw^ of a 

 whitish colour, sharply acuminate, flat on the back, very convex and 

 obtusely angular in front. 



Hab. Wet meadows and swamps. Common in New 

 York ! New Jersey ! and Pennsylvania ! ; Kentucky, Dr. 

 Short! 



Obs. I have never received specimens of this plant from 

 the Southern States, nor from any place west of the Mississippi. 



10. SCIRPUS BRUNNEUS, Muhl, 



Culm triangular, leafy ; umbel decompound ; involucre 3 — 4- 

 leaved; spikes short-ovate and ovate-oblong, somewhat loosely 

 clustered in heads of 5 to 8 ; scales broadly ovate, rather obtuse, 

 slightly mucronate ; style 3-cleft ; nut minute, obovate, plano- 

 convex, with a short acumination, dull, shorter than the tortuous 

 bristles. 



S.brunneus, Muhl.! gram. p. 43; Torr.! fl. 1. p. 49; Beck! hot. p. 

 426; DarlingU! jl. Cest. ed. 2. p. 22; Spreng. syst. 1. p. 2H. 



