:)38 CLVi. CYPERACE^ (clarke). [Cyperus. 



SchiDz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. V. 547; K. Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. 

 C. 119. 



Sflozaml). 3>l8t. German East Africa : Usambara (ex Schumann). 



Mascarene Islands. 



This plant has been much cultivated for more than a century. It is so exceed- 

 ingly near C . flcvbelliformis tliat I have doubted whether it may not be a cultivated 

 state ; the only wild plants which I sort with C. alternifolius are from the Mascarene 

 Islands. Tlie Usambara example cited by K. Schumann may be exactly my 

 Mascarene C. alternifolius, or maybe one of the forms which I sort with C.fiahelli- 

 formis. ■ The leaves described by Kunth and others are an error. 



43. C. sexangularis, Nees in Linncea, ix. 284, and x. 135. Stem 

 at the top trigonous or triquetrous, each plane face with 3-1 stride, of 

 which the central one is strongest, so that in the typical form the stem 

 is subequally hexagonal at the top; otherwise as C.Jlabelliformis. — 

 Kunth, Enum. ii. 32 ; Boeck. in Linnaea, xxxv. 568 ; C. B. Clarke in 

 Durand & Schin^, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 577, in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. 

 Append, iii. 31, and in Dyer, FL Cap. vii. 175. 



XHozaxnb. Dist. British Central Africa : Boruma, on the Zambesi, Meny- 

 harthy 1055 ! 



Frequent in South Africa. 



The typical subequally hexagonal-stemmed plant seems distinct enough from the 

 exactly cylindric-stennned (finely striated) C. jiahelliformis. But Bolus has 

 supplied intermediate states, till I find it hard to distinguish the species. So far as 

 my experience goes, this is the result throughout the Order CyperacecB where the 

 discrimination of two species hangs on the roundness or 3-4-angularity of the stem 

 alone, 



44. C. denudatus, Linn.f. Suppl. 102. Glabrous. Rhizome hori- 

 zontal, thick. Stems 12-32 in. long, at the top triquetrous or trigonous, 

 sometimes triquetrous their whole length and almost 3- winged. Leaves 

 hardly any ; the highest sometimes J-1 J in. long, green, bayonet-shaped, 

 but usually a mere prolongation of the sheath. Umbel, bracts, spikelets 

 and nuts as of C. sphcerospermus, Schrad. — Kunth, Enum. ii. 36 ; 

 Boeck. in Linnsea, xxxv. 570 partly ; C. B. Clarke in Durand & Schinz, 

 Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 555, in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. Append, iii. 29, and 

 in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vii. 173 ; K. Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 119 ; 

 Rendle in Cat. Afr. PL Welw. ii. 115. 



irile 3band, British East Africa : Mombasa, Hildehrandt, 2045 ! Ndoro, on 

 Mount Kenia, Gregory, 78 ! 



Iiower Guinea. Angola : Huilla ; ponds near Nene, Welwitsch, 6861 1 



IVIozaxnb. Dist. Zanzibar, J'aj/Zor .' German East Africa : Karagwe ; Bukoba, 

 Stuhlmann, 1001! Unyamwezi ; Gonda (Igonda), Boehm, 64! Niansa, Stuhlmanny 

 872 ! British Central Africa : on an island at Victoria Falls, KirJc ! 



Also in South Africa and Madagascar. 



Var. delicatulus, C. B. Clarke in Durand & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 556. 

 Rhizome stout. Stems 2 ft. long, stout, triquetrous, almost 3-winged. Umbel 

 dense. Spikelets numerous, about Jg- in. broad. Glumes obtuse, chestnut-red. — ■ 

 C. denudatus, T. Thorns, in Speke, Nile, Append. 654 ; Oliver in Trans. Linn. Soc. 

 xxix. 165. 



