502 



CYPERACE^. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



base, and with 2 inflated leafless sheaths ; root-leaves long and thread-form, tri- 

 angular-channelled ; scales of the ovate spike long-pointed, lead-color at matu- 

 rity. — Cold and high peat-bogs, New England to "Wisconsin, and northward ; 

 rare. June. (Eu.) 



+- — Calm leafy, bearing several umbellate-clustered heads, involucrate. 



3. E. Virgiiiicuni, L. Culm rigid (2° -4° high); leaves narrowly 

 linear, elongated, flat; spikes crowded in a dense cluster or head; wool rusty or 

 copper-color, only thrice the length of the scale; stamen 1. — Bogs and low 

 meadows ; common. July, Aug. 



4. E. polystacliyoai, L. Culm rigid (1°- 2° high), obscurely triangu- 

 lar ; leaves linear, fiat, or barely channelled below, triangular at the point ; involucre 

 2-3-leaved; spikes several (4-12), on nodding peduncles, some of them elon- 

 gated in fruit ; achenium obovate ; wool white, very straight (1' long or more). 

 — Var. angustif6lium (E. angustifolium, Roth, and European botanists, not 

 of American, and the original E. polystachyon of L.) has smooth peduncles.— 

 Var. latif6lium (E. latifolium, Roppe, & E. polystachyon, Torr., frc.) has rough 

 peduncles, and sometimes broader and flatter leaves. — Both are common in 

 bogs, especially northward, and often with the peduncles obscurely scabrous, 

 indicating that the species should probably be left as Linnaeus founded it. June, 

 July. (Eu.) 



5. E. gracile, Koch. Culm slender (l°-2° high), rather triangular; 

 leaves slender, channelled-triangular, rough on the angles ; involucre short a?id scale- 

 like, mostly \-lcaved; peduncles rough or roughish-pubescent ; achenium ellipti- 

 cal-linear. (E. triquctrum, Hoppe. E. angustifolium, Torr.) — Cold bogs, New 

 England to Illinois, and northward. July, Aug. — Spikes 3-7, small, when 

 mature the copious white wool ^' to |' long. Scales brownish, several-nerved, 

 or in our plant, var. paucinervium, Engelm., mostly light chestnut-color, 

 and about 3-ncrved. (Eu.) 



8. FIMBRISTYLIS, Vahl. (Species of Scirpus, L.) 



Spikes several - many-flowered, terete; the scales all floriferous, regularly im- 

 bricated in several ranks. Perianth (bristles, &c.) none. Stamens 1-3. Style 

 2-3-cleft, with a thickened bulbous base, which is deciduous (except in No. 4) 

 from the apex of the naked lenticular or triangular achenium. Otherwise as in 

 Scirpus. — Culms leafy at the base. Spikes in our species umbelled, and the 

 involucre 2-3-leaved. (Name compounded of fimbria, a fringe, and stylus, the 

 style, which is fringed with hairs in the genuine species.) 



§ 1. FIMBPJSTYLIS Proper. — Style 2-cleft, mostly fiat and ciliate on the 

 margins, falling away with the bulbous base from the lenticular achenium; scales of 

 the many-flowered spike very closely imbricated. 



1. F. spadacea, Vahl. Culms (l°-2j° high) naked above, rigid, as are 

 the thread-form convolute-channelled leaves, smooth ; spikes ovate-oblong becoming 

 cylindrical, dark chestnut-eolor (2" thick); stamens 2 or 3; achenium minutely 

 striate and dotted. 1J. (F. cylindrica, Vahl.) — Salt marshes along the coast, 

 New York to Virginia, and southward. July - Sept. 



