402 CYPERACEJZ. [EUOOHABH. 



Sandy edges of Inkcs and pools, from Perth find Kinross southwards, rare in 

 Scotland and (W. only of) Ireland ; fl. July-Aug. Stolons capillary. Xfi-ms 

 many, 2-8 in., extremely slender. Sheaths membranous, acute. Spikelets 

 -J in., red-brown. Fruit very minute, pale. DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), 

 Siberia, Dahuria, N.W. India, N. America. 



** Spikelets few-flowered. Fruit beaked, top scarcely tumid. (Baeothryon, Dietr.) 



4. E. csespito'sa, Link; root-stock and leaves very short, 2 lowest 

 glumes fertile equalling or exceeding the spike mucronate or awned, bristles 

 4-6 smooth, fruit obovoid 3-quetrous acuminate. 



Heaths and moors, ascending to 3,500 ft. ; fl. June-July. Stolons 0. Stemt 

 6-12 in., very densely tufted, wiry, grooved. Sheaths, lower split, large, 

 stout, rigid, shining ; upper slender, with an erect short subulate blade. 

 Spikelets J~J in., erect, chesnut-brown, shining. Glumes few, rigid, lowest 

 flowering with usually a long green point. A nthers long, exserted, mucro 

 long. Stigmas 3, very long. Fruit brown. DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), 

 Siberia, temp, and cold N. America. 



5. E. pauciflora, Link; rootstock creeping, stolons long, upper 

 sheaths truncate, lowest glume fertile obtuse not equalling the spikelet, 

 bristles 3-6 barbed, fruit obovoid 3-gonous. 



Moorlands, north to Ross, ascending to 2,100 ft. in Yorkshire ; fl. July-Aug. 

 Very similar to S. ccespitosus, but habit different, leafless, smaller ; lowest 

 glume obtuse, with the rib not produced to the top ; and anthers not apicu- 

 late. Fruit pale, minutely striate ; beak slightly contracted at the base, and 

 quite the representative of the tumid top of the first division of the genus. 

 DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), except Turkey, N. and W. Asia, N. America, 



6. E. par'vnla, Hook.; minute, rootstock creeping, sheaths hyaline, 

 leaves setaceous, spikelet minute, glumes pale lowest flowerless obtuse 

 not exceeding the spikelet, bristles 4-8 barbed, fruit obovoid 3-gonous. 

 Muddy sea-shores, Hampshire (probably extinct), Wicklow ; fl. July. Rnotstock 



elongate, capillary, with distant tufts of a few soft stems and leaves, termi- 

 nated by small tubers. Stem 1-2 in., grooved ; sheath very inconspicuous, 

 owing to its extreme tenuity. Leaves like the stems, slightly dilated at the 

 base, recurved, subulate, channelled. Spikelets T ' n in., pale. Glumes mem- 

 branous, obtuse. Fruit pale. DISTRIB. Europe from Gothland southwards, 

 excl. Spain and Turkey. 



A. BLYS'MUS, Panzer. 



Erect, perennial, glabrous herbs. Spikelets distichous, in a lateral or 

 terminal erect bracteate spike. Glumes imbricate all round the rachis, all 

 but the 2 lowest flowering, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse. Flowers 2-sexual. 

 Bristles 3-6. Stamens 3. Style-base not tumid, stigmas 2. Fruit plano- 

 convex, beaked. DISTRIB. Europe, Siberia, Himalaya ; species 2. ETYM. 

 0A.i/<r/x<Jy, a spring. 



1. B. compress'ns, Panz. ; leaves flat, edges rough, lower glume 

 ribbed much shorter than the spikelet. 



Wet pastures and marshes, from Ayr and Haddington southwards ; ascending 

 to 1,500 ft in Northumberland ; absent from Ireland ; fl. June-July. Root- 

 stock elongate. Stems 4-10 in., solitary, sheathed at the base. Leaves shorter 

 than the stem, grase-like, keeled. Bracts leafy, long or short. Spikes 4-l^in. 



