CYPERACEJE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 519 1 



or sandy banks near the coast, Florida, and northward. April - July. Rhizoma 

 very slender, bearing minute tuber-like buds. Spikes l"-2" long. 



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

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

 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. )J. Sheaths light brown. Spikes 2" long. 



8. SCIRPTTS, 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 obtuse, 

 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 Eleo- 

 charis. All perennial except No. 2. 



1. Culms jointless : leaves or sheaths radical. 

 * Spike solitary, terminal. 



1. S. CSBSpitOSUS, L. Culms 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 bristles. 

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

 and creeping. Spike 1 " - 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. Culms 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 -l high. Spikes 3" -5" 

 long. 



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

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

 (3' -4' long); spikes 3-6, light brown, oblong; scales membranaceous, 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 hispid bristles. 

 (S. Americanus, Pers.) Sandy marshes along the coast, West Florida, and 

 northward. June - Sept. Culm 2 - 3 high. Leaves 2-3, mostly shorter 

 than the culm. Spikes 4" -6" long. 



4. S. Olneyi, Gray. Culms stout, with three-winged angles, and three deeply 

 channelled sides, leafless, or the sheaths ending in short pointed leaves ; invo- 

 lucre short ('-!' long) rigid; spikes 7-13, short, ovate, dark brown; scales 



