Victorian Plants. 465 



1974. Floral bracts at their margin densely beset with 



hairlets. 



Seldom tall ; steins thin, furrowed ; clusters of spikelets 

 two or few, partly stalked ; spikelets small, curved and 

 pointed ; flowers two ; floral bracts nearly black ; rudi- 

 mentary sepals and petals absent ; fruit blunt, rugulous. 



S. ericetorum, 



Floral bracts nearly or quite glabrous ... 1975 



1975. Stamens usually three. 



Seldom tall ; stems slender, slightly furrowed ; spikelets 

 small, crowded into a solitary cluster ; flowers two ; rudi- 

 mentary sepals and petals absent ; fruit blunt, rugulous. 



S. imberbis. 



Stamens usually four to seven. 



Never tall ; stems undivided, subtile -streaked ; leaves quite 

 rudimentary, basal and floral only ; spikelets many, 

 crowded into a solitary almost terminal cluster ; floral 

 bracts brown ; flowers two ; rudimentary sepals and 

 petals absent ; fruit smooth, blunt, slightly angular. 



S. aphyllus. 



1976. Leaf-stalks quite glabrous. 



Rather tall ; stems rigid ; the lowest of the rudimentary 

 floral leaves occasionally distant ; spikelets rather long, 

 somewhat clustered in a narrow panicle ; floral bracts 

 brown ; flowers three to five ; rudimentary sepals and 

 petals absent ; stamens three ; fruit pale-brownish out- 

 side. S. brevifolius. 



Leaf-stalks at the summit beset with hairlets. 



Tall ; stems straight, rigid, undivided ; tubular leaf -stalks 

 basal and floral only ; leaves rudimentary or obliterated ; 

 spikelets mostly stalked, much compressed, clustered in a 

 somewhat unilateral panicle ; floral bracts blunt, nearly 

 black ; flowers one to three ; rudimentary sepals and 

 petals almost or quite absent ; fruit pale outside, rugular- 

 rough. S. melanostachys. 



SCXRPUS. 



1977. Tall ... ... ... 1978 



Dwarf 1982 



2H 



