SEDGE FAMILY 



197 



3. FIMBRISTYLIS Vahl. 



Annuals or perennials. Stems leafy below. Spikelets umbellate or capitate, 

 terete, subtended by a 1 to many-leaved involucre. Scales spirally imbricated 

 all around, mostly deciduous. Perianth bristles none. Stamens 1 to 3. Style 

 2 to 3-cleft, its Base swollen, and commonly tuberculate, the whole falling away 

 from the achene at maturity. Achene lenticular or 3-angled. Species 131, all 

 continents. (Latin fimbri, fringe, and stylus, style.) 



Achene triangular; tubercle more or less persistent; style glabrous; annual....!. F. capillaris. 

 Achene flattened or biconvex; tubercle deciduous. 



Spikelets clustered; style glabrous, at least below; annual 2. F. vahlii. 



Spikelets umbellate, solitary on the rays or in the forks; style ciliate; perennial. 



3. F. thermalis. 



1. F. capillaris Gray. Stems tufted, somewhat bristle-like, 2 to 7 inches high, 

 much exceeding the filiform leaves, and bearing 1 to 3 spikelets, when 3 the stem 

 shortly forked at apex and bearing 1 spikelet in the fork; spikelets narrowly 

 o\rate, iy 2 to 2 l /2 lines long; involucral bract lanceolate-setaceous; "stamens 2"; 

 achene obovoid, triangular, lightly wrinkled transversely, the angles somewhat 

 thickened ; tubercle small, deltoid, more or less persistent. 



Sierra Nevada. 



Loc. Near the Royal Arches, Yosemite Valley, Jepson 8410. 



Refs. FIMBRISTYLIS CAPILLARIS Gray, Man. 530 (1848). Scirpus capillaris L. Sp. PI. 49 

 (1753), cited as occurring in Virginia, Ethiopia & Ceylon. Stenophyllus capillaris Britton, 

 Bull. Torr. Club, 21:30 (1894). 



F. MILIACEA Vahl, Enum. PL 2:287 (1806); umbel diffusely compound; spikelets sub- 

 globose, about 1 line long; achene whitish, acutely triangular, muricate-tuberculate. "Near 

 Sail Francisco" (Bot. Cal. 2:223) in 1866, but not since found. 



2. F. vahlii Link. Stems slender, densely tufted, 1 to 4 inches high, longer 

 than or equaling the filiform leaves ; spikelets in clusters, subtended by filiform 

 elongated upright bracts which exceed the cluster 4 to 6 times; achene minute, 

 transversely reticulate. 



Very local in California: North Coast Ranges; upper San Joaquin Valley; 

 lower Colorado River. Southeastern United States and South America. 



Locs. Clear Lake (Bot. Cal. 2:224); Visalia (aec, Coville, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 

 4:212); Ft. Yuma, Parish 8375, 8495. 



Refs. FIMBRISTYLIS VAHLII Link, Hort. Berol. 1:287 (1827). Scirpus vahlii Lam. Tab. 

 Encycl. 1:139 (1791), type loc. Spain. F. apus appears to be merely a form in which the 

 tubercle is reduced or obsolete and so we quote: F. apus Wata Bot. Cal. 2:224 (1880); 

 Scirpus apus Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 

 10:78 (1874), type loc. shore of Clear 

 Lake, Bolander. $jj$. \, Q 



3. F. thermalis Wats. (Fig. 

 17.) Stems 1 to 2 feet high, 

 bearing few to many spikelets 

 in a simple or compound um- 

 bellate cluster; leaves y 2 to % 

 as tall as the stems; spikelets 

 oblong-ovate, 4 to 5 (or 7) lines 

 long; style hairy; achene whit- 

 ish, broadly obovoid, flattened, 

 the tubercle linear, nearly as 

 long, soon deciduous. 



Margins of hot springs: 

 Southern California northward 



Fig. 17. FIMBRISTYLIS THERMALIS Wats, a, cluster 

 Locs. Owens Valley, Brewer 2832 ; of sp it e lets, XI; b, scale, X 5 ; o, achene, X 5. 



Arrowhead Sprs., Parish 5528. 



Ref. FIMBRISTYLIS THERMALIS Wats. Bot. King 360 (1871), type loc. Hot Sprs., Ruby 



Valley, Nev., Watson 1216. 



