CYPBJlAOEiE. (SEDCtE FAMILY.) 



831 



2. H£LEO€lI41tIS, R. Br. Spike Rush. 



Spikelet terminal, solitary, many-flowered, uaked at base. Glumes 

 imjDricated all round tlie axis, the lower sometimes larger, sterile. 

 Style terete, glabrous, thickened at base, jointed with ovary. Ilypo- 

 gynous bristles included. Akenes cro\yned with the mamillary base of 

 the style — Herbs, with leafless sheaths. 



Fig. 304. 



1. H. palustris, L. Ij! Root-stock creeping; 

 culms clustered, terete, somewhat flattened, spongy, 

 with obliquely truncate sheaths at base. Spikelet 

 oUong -linear, .01 to .03 long, acute; glumes oblong, 

 obtuse, tawny at either side of greenish straw-colored 

 keel, white-margined ; stigmas 3 ; bristles 4 or less, 

 retrorsely scabrous, somewhat longer than akenc — 

 Summer — Swampy places throughout. 



2. H. inacraiitlia, Bockel. % Root-stock 

 librous; culms erect, slender, obsoletely quadrangular ; 

 sheaths at base long, obliquely truncate. Spikelet 

 ovate, obtuse, .01 long, few-flowered; glumes pale, 

 white-margined, lanceolate, obtusish; stigmas 3; 

 akene obovate, triquetrous, obsoletely reticulate; 

 bristles 4, retrorsely scabrous — Summer — Natural 

 Bricfge (Lebanon). 



3. FIMBRISTIXI^, Vahl. Fimbristylis. 



Spikelets many-flowered, solitary, capitate or umbelled. Glumes 

 imbricated all round the axis. Style compressed, usually hairy, bulb- 

 ous-thickened at base. Hypogynous bristles — Marsh plants, with 

 spikelets in simple or compound umbels. 



Inflorescence of 



Ileleocharis 



palustris. 



1. F. fcmigiiiea, L. 



(D 2i! .5 to .G, tufted; culms 

 striate, -somewhat flattened. 

 Leaves linear, grooved, some- 

 times reduced to a short lami- 

 na. Umbel simple, or somewhat 

 compound, peduncles and pe- 

 dicels unequal, longer than 

 1-3, unequal leaves of invo- 

 lucre, or shorter than the 

 longest; spikelets ovate, .008 

 to .01 long, .004 broad ; glumes 

 ovate, keeled, taicny to reddish, 

 mucronulate ; akene lenticular, 

 smooth or punctale, mucronu- 

 late — Summer — Marshy 

 places; coast; Ghor-es-Safieh. 



Fig. 



Inflorescence of Fimbristylis ferniginea. 



2. F. clichotoiiia, Rottb. .3; tufted, glauccscent; culms fill 

 form, somewhat tri([Uctrous, leafy at base. Leaves linear, acute, about 

 as long as culm. Umbel 2-^-compouml, with unequal ])edunclcs and 

 pedicels, shorter than the longer of the 3-0 leaves of invohicre; spike- 

 lets /'wsi/bn^, .004 long, .0015 broad; glumes ovate, luff-colored except 

 greenish keel, mucronate ; akene obovate, minute, lexutifully latticed 



