CYPERAOE-aE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



831 



2. HEL.EOCH4RIIS, R. Br. Spike Rush. 



Spikclet terminal, solitary, many-flowered, naked at base. Glumes 

 imbricated all round the axis, the lower sometimes larger, sterile. 

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

 gynous bristles included. Akenes crowned with the mamillary base of 

 the style — Herbs, with leafless sheaths. 



1, H. palu§tri$, L. If Root-stock creeping; Fig. 364. 

 culms cluste'red, terete, somewhat flattened, spongy, 

 with obliquely truncate sheaths at base. Spikelet 

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

 obtuse, tawny at either side of greenish straw-colored 

 keel, white-margined ; stigmas 2 ; bristles 4 or less, 

 retrorsely scabrous, somewhat longer than akene — 

 Summer — Swampy places throughout. 



2. H. macraiitlia, Bockel. 2f Root-stock 

 fibrous; culms erect, slender, obsoletely quadrangular ; 

 sheaths at base long, oblique]y 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 

 Bridge (Lebanon). 



3. FIIWBRI^T¥I.l^, 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 

 Heleocharis 

 palustris. 



1. F. ferruginea, L. 



(D If .5 to .6, tufted; culms 

 striate, somewhat flattened. 

 Leaves linear, grooved, some- 

 times reduced to a short lami- 

 na. Umbel sim2)le, 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, taiony to reddish, 

 mucronulate ; akene lenticular, 

 smooth or punctale, mucronu- 

 late — Summer — Marshy 

 places; coast; Ghor-es-S3,fieh. 



Fig. 365. 



Inflorescence of Fimbristylis ferruginea. 



2. F. tlicliotoma, Rottb. .2; tufted, glaucescent ; culms fili- 

 form, somewhat triquetrous, leafy at base. Leaves linear, acute, about 

 as long as culm. Umbel 2-'d-compound, with unequal peduncles and 

 pedicels, shorter than the longer of the 3-6 leaves of involucre ; spike- 

 lets /wsi/b?'m, .004 long, .0015 broad; glumes ovate, luff-colored except 

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



