CYPERACE2E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 499 



3. S. SUbtCl'minaliS, Torr. Culms (l°-3° long) and slender terete 

 leaves immersed and cellular ; spike overtopped by a green bract, which appears like 

 a prolongation of the culm, oblong, raised out of the water ; scales scarcely 

 pointed ; bristles 6, bearded downwards, rather shorter than the abruptly-pointed 

 achenium. — Slow streams and ponds, New Jersey and New England to Michi- 

 gan, and westward. Aug. 



* * Spikes clustered {rarely reduced to one), appearing lateral by the extension of the 



one-leaved involucre exactly like a continuation of the naked culm. 



•+- Culm triangular, stout, chiefly from running rootstocks : spikes many-flowered, 



rusty brotcn, closely sessile in one cluster : sheaths cd base more or less leaf-bearing. 



4. S. pi'msreHS, Vahl. Culm shurply 3-angled throughout (1°- 4° high), 

 with concave sides; leaves 1-3, elongated (4' -10' long), keeled and channelled; 

 spikes 1-6, capitate, ovoid, long overtopped by the pointed involucral leaf; 

 Bcales ovate, sparingly ciliate, 2-clcft at the apex and awl-pointed from between 

 the acute lobes ; anthers tipped with an awl-shaped minutely fringed appendage ; 

 style 2-cleft ; bristles 2-6, shorter than the obovate plano-convex and mucronate 

 smooth achenium. (S. triqueter, Michx., not of L. S. Americanus, Pers.) — 

 Borders of salt and fresh ponds and streams. July, Aug. — This is the species 

 generallj used for making rush-bottom chairs. (Eu.) 



5. S. Oloicyi, Gray. Culm 3-wing-angled, with deeply excavated sides, stout 

 (2° -7° high), the upper sheath bearing a short 3-angular leaf or none , spikes 6- 

 12, closely capitate, ovoid, obtuse, overtopped by the short involucral leaf; scales 

 orbicular, smooth, the inconspicuous mucronate point shorter than the searious 

 apex ; anthers with a very short and blunt minutely bearded tip ; style 2-cleft ; bris- 

 tles 6, scarcely ecpialling the obovate plano-convex mucronate achenium. — Salt 

 marshes, Martha's Vineyard, Oakes, Rhode Island, Ohuy, and New Jersey, 

 Knieskern ; also southward. July. — Cross-section of the stem strongly 3-rayed, 

 with the sides parallel. — Much nearer than the last to the European S. triqueter, 

 which has similar anthers and an abbreviated or almost abortive leaf; but its 

 culm is wingless, and the cluster of spikes compound, some of them umbellate- 

 stalked. 



6. S. Tdrreyi, Olney. Culm 3-angled, with concave sides, rather slender 

 (2° high), leafy at the base; leaves 2-3, more than half the length of the culm, tri- 

 angular-channelled, slender ; spikes 1-4, ovate-oblong, acute, distinct, sessile, long 

 overtopped by the slender erect involucral leaf; scales ovate, smooth, entire, 

 barely mucronate ; style 3-cleft; bristles longer than the unequally triangular obovate 

 very smooth and long-pointed achenium. (S. mucronatus, Pursh ? Torr. Fl. N. Y.) 

 — Borders of ponds, both brackish and fresh, New England to Michigan. July, 

 Aug. — (S. mucronatus, L., should it be found in the country, will be known 

 by its leafless sheaths, conglomerate head of many spikes, stout involucral leaf 

 bent to one side, &c.) 



■+- +-> Cid7n terete, naked. 



7. S. lactlStl'iS, L. (Bulkush.) Culm large, cylindrical, gradually 

 tapering at the apex (3° -8° high), the sheath bearing a small linear-awl-shaped 

 leaf or none; spikes ovate-oblong, numerous, in a con pound umbel-like panicle 

 turned to one side, rusty-brown ; scales ovate, mucronate ; bristles 4 - 6 ; achenium 



