RYNCHOSPORA.] CYPERACE^E. 405 



Ireland ; fl. July- Aug. Similar to R. alba, but more slender and rootstock 

 elongate. DISTRIB. Europe, excl. Spain Greece and Turkey, N.E. America. 



8. SCHCE'NUS, L. 



Perennial, often leafless, rigid, rush-like herbs. Spikelets in compressed 

 terminal bracteate heads. Glumes subdistichous, rigid, the upper only 

 flowering. Flowers 1-4, 2-sexual. Bristles 1-6. Stamens 3. Style de- 

 ciduous, base not tumid, stigmas 3. Fruit 3-gonous, obtuse or mucro- 

 nate. DISTRIB. Chiefly temp.; species about 10. ETYM. ffxowos, from 

 the use of some species as cordage. 



1. S. nigricans, L. ; stem terete, spike obovoid usually much shorter 

 than the bract. 



Bogs and wet moors, rather local ; ascending to upwards of 1,000 ft. in the 

 Highlands; fl. June-July. Root tock short, stout, branched. Stems 6-24 in., 

 in dense hard tufts of matted sheaths and leaves, terete, wiry, leafless 

 above ; sheaths copious, red brown or black, shining. Leaves wiry, terete, 

 margins convolute. Spikes \ f in., dark red-brown, shining; bract setaceous. 

 Spikelets 4-10, erect, linear-oblong. Glumes irregularly distichous, oblong- 

 lanceolate, subacute ; keel scaberulous. Bristles barbed upwards. Fruit 

 small, ovoid, white. DISTRIB. Europe, N. Africa, Siberia. 



9. CYPE'RUS, L. 



Perennial, rarely annual, rushy or grass-like herbs of various habit. 

 Spikelets linear, compressed, in lateral or terminal usually bracteate 

 heads, or branched umbels or panicles. Glumes many, distichous, con- 

 cave, keeled, deciduous, all or most flowering. Flowers 2-sexual. Bristles 

 0. Stamens 1-3. Style deciduous, not tumid at the base, stigmas 2-3. 

 Fruit 3-gonous or compressed. DISTRIB. All climates but cold ; species 

 about 300. ETYM. The old Greek name. 



1. C. lon'erus, L.; perennial, tall, cyme umbellate, glumes erect red- 

 brown. Galingale. 



Marshes, very rare, Pembroke and from Kent to Cornwall ; Channel Is., 

 fl. Aug.-Sept. Rootstock stout, creeping. Stems 2-3 ft., stout, erect, 

 3-quetrous, leafy at the base. Leaves few, flat, keeled; margins hardly 

 scaberulous. Rays many, 3-6 in., slender, again umbellate. Bracts leaf- 

 like, far exceeding the rays. Spikelets ^-f in., 4-8, linear, curved, distich- 

 onsly crowded at the top of the rays. Glumes lanceolate, midrib green 

 scabrid. Fruit 3-quetrous, pale. DISTRIB. Europe from France and 

 Germany to Spain and Turkey, N. Africa. Rootstock aromatic, formerly 

 used as a medicine. 



2. C. fus'cus, L.; annual, dwarf, spikelets corymbose or capitate, 

 glumes at length spreading green or pale brown. 



Ditches and wet meadows, very rare, Surrey and (formerly) Middlesex ; fl. 

 Aug.-Sept. Stems 3-10 in., many ascending from a fibrous root, 3-quetrous. 

 Leaves flat, spreading, grass-like. Rays few, short, simple, rarely divided. 

 Bracts 3, leaf -like, unequal, broad at the base, curved, spreading. Spikelrtx 

 -3 in., crowded, slender. Glumes many, oblong-ovate, subacute ; midrin 

 broad or narrow, smooth, green. Fruit minute, white. DISTRIB. Europe 

 from Gothland southwards, N. Africa, Siberia, W. Asia. 



