200 



CYPERACEAE 



8") in a terminal sessile cluster; involueral bract narrowly linear or acicular, 

 y 2 to 114 inches long ; scales ovate, obtusish, not awned ; achenes nearly circular 

 or round-ovate, flat on one face, rounded or hemispheric on the other; bristles 

 1 to 3, less than half the length of the achene. 



Moist alkaline lands, east of the Sierra Nevada. Nevada to Washington. 



Locs. Mono Lake, Brewer; Amedee, Davy 3311. 



Eel SCIRPUS NEVADENSIS Wats. Bot. King, 360 (1871), type loe. Soda Lake, Carson 

 desert, Nev., Watson 1213. 



6. S. acutus Muhl. TULE. (Fig. 19.) Stems arising from stout creeping 

 rootstocks, terete or very obtusely trigonous above, 3 to 9 feet high, leafless or 



with a short terete leaf from the 

 upper basal sheath ; inflorescence 

 apparently lateral, 1 to 5 inches 

 long ; involueral bract stout, shorter 

 than the inflorescence; spikelets 3 

 to 6 lines long, numerous, congested 

 capitate, or in an irregular umbel 

 with unequal rays ; scales ovate, 

 ciliate, shortly awned, ^ to l /z 

 longer than the achene; bristles 

 6, slender, retrorsely barbellate, 

 slightly shorter than or about 

 equaling the achene; style 2-cleft; 

 achene lenticular, gray, abruptly 

 mucronate. 



Salt and freshwater marshes 

 and borders of lakes and streams, 

 verv common: California to Brit- 



Fig. 19. SCIRPUS ACUTUS Muhl. a, panicle of 

 spikelets, X 1; 6, scale, X 4; c, achene, X 4; 

 d, achene and bristles, X 7. 



ish Columbia, Newfoundland and 

 Arizona. 



Tax. Note. The achene in this species is % larger than in S. validus and the scales nearly 

 twice as long. The umbels are denser in S. aeutus and the stems harder. 



Econ. Note. It is our estimate that originally there were in California about 250,000 

 acres of tule lands; much of this area has now been reclaimed to cultivation. Tule stems were 

 used by the native tribes to build their balsas or small boats and to weave mats. At the present 

 day the stems are used for packing nursery stock for shipment, thatching hay-stacks, and as a 

 source of potash. 



Locs. Vietorville, Parish 10561; Tehachapi, Greene; Bakersfield, Davy 2914; Heteh-Hetchy, 

 Jepson 3415; Long Valley, Lassen Co., Jeps'on 7786; Gazelle, Shasta Valley, Goldsmith 16; 

 Samoa, Humboldt Bay, Tracy 2595; Suisun Marshes, Jepson 2460a. 



Eefs. SCIRPUS ACUTUS Muhl.; Bigelow, Fl. Bost. 15 (1814), type loc. Fish Pond, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass.; Fern. Ehod. 22:55 (1920). S. occidental Chase, Ehod. 6:68 (1904). S. 

 lacustris var. occidentalis Wats. Bot. Cal. 2:218 (1880), type from western America. 



7. S. calif ornicus Britton. CALIFORNIA BULRUSH. Similar to S. occidentalis ; 

 umbel irregular, looser, its rays more slender, up to 4 inches long ; spikelets dark 

 reddish brown, cylindric or narrow-ovate, (3 or) 4 to 5 lines long; scales short- 

 aristate; bristles 2, 3 or 4, ribbon-shaped, dark red, conspicuously short-hairy 

 or somewhat plumose. 



Marshes, California to Florida and South America. 



Locs. Oceanside, Parish 4455 ; Oak Knoll, Los Angeles Co., Braunton 659 ; Alvarado, Jep- 

 son; Vallejo, M. Grace Eowe; Suisun Marshes, Jepson 2460. 



Eefs. SCIRPUS CALIFORNICUS BRITTON Trans. N. Y. Acad., 11:79 (1892). Elytrospermum 

 oalifornicum C. A. Mey. Mem. Sav. Etr. Petersb. 1:201, t. 2 (1830), type from California. 

 S. tatora Kunth, Enum. PI. 2:166 (1837), type loc. Peru. 



