546 CYPERACEJE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



nearly terete, longitudinally ribbed and pitted, pointed with the conical or 

 depressed tubercle; bristles 3-4, shorter than the nut, sometimes wanting. 

 Margins of ponds, Florida, and northward. June - Sept. 



27. E. pygmaea, Torr. Culms short (!'- 2' high), grooved on one side; 

 spikes-ovate, 3 - G-nowered ; scales whitish, ovate ; nut ovate, pale, prominently 

 3-augled, smooth and shining, narrowed above into the minute tubercle ; bris- 

 tles 6, longer than the nut, sometimes wanting. Muddy or sandy banks 

 near the coast, Florida, and northward. April - July. Rhizoma very slender, 

 bearing minute tuber-like buds. Spikes I" -2" long. 



28. E. Baldwin!!, Torr. Culms (4' -6' long) grooved, diffuse, wiry; 

 spikes oblong, flat, 3-5-flowered, proliferous and rooting; scales 4-6, 2- 

 rauked, lanceolate, obtuse, finely nerved, the lower ones longer; nut smooth, 

 oblong, strongly 3-angled, crowned with the conical 3 angled sessile tubercle; 

 bristles 4-6, unequal, the longest as long as the nut. Swamps, Florida and 

 Georgia. June - Sept. 11 Sheaths light brown. Spikes 2" long. 



8. SCIRPUS, L. BULRUSH. 



Spikes terete, single, or oftener in clusters or umbels, which are subtended 

 by a 1 - many-leaved involucre Scales imbricated in several rows. Nut ob- 

 tuse, or pointed by the persistent jointless base of the style. Tubercle none. 

 Culms jointed and leafy, or leafy or sheathed only at the base. Otherwise 

 like Eleocharis. All perennial except No. 2. 



1. Culms jointless : leaves or sheaths radical. 

 * Spike solitary, terminal. 



1. S. CSBSpitOSUS, L. Culm tufted (6'- 10' high), terete, wiry; sheaths 

 numerous, rigid, imbricated, the uppermost ending in a short leaf; spike 3- 

 8-flowered ; involucre 2-leaved, as long as the spike, pointed ; nut oblong, com- 

 pressed-3-angled, abruptly pointed, half as long as the smooth capillary bris- 

 tles. High mountains of North Carolina, and northward. July. Rhizoma 

 thick and creeping. Spike l"-2" long. 



* * Spikes 2 -many, apparently lateral: the l-leaved involucre erect and 



continuous with the culm. 

 *- Spikes in sessile clusters. 



2. S. debilis, Pursh. Culm terete, slender, commonly leafless ; spikes 

 2-5, oblong-ovate or cylindrical; involucre elongated; scales round-ovate, 

 obtuse, mucronate ; style 2 - 3-cleft ; nut broadly obovate, plano-convex, smooth, 

 shorter than the 4 - 6 strongly hispid bristles. Borders of ponds and streams, 

 South Carolina, and northward. Culms |- 1| high. Spikes 3" -5" 

 long. 



3. S. pungens, Vahl. Culm stout, acutely 3-angled, two of the sides 

 concave, leafy at the base ; leaves channelled, sharply keeled ; involucre slen- 

 der (3' -4' long) ; spikes 3-6, light brown, oblong; scales inembrauaceous, 

 oval, 2-cleft, mucronate-awned, slightly ciliate; anthers slender-pointed; style 

 2-cleft ; nut round-obovate, plano-convex or lenticular, as long as the 3-5 his- 

 pid bristles. (S. Americanus, Pers.) Sandy marshes along the coast, West 



