I^leocharis.] clvi. CYPERACEiE (clarke). 407 



pond near Eriniakuna, Scott-Elliot, 4453 ! Wlivdah. IseH ! Lagos : Lagos Island, 

 Barter, 2234 ! 



Wile ILand. British East Africa : Jur ; Jur Ghattas, Schiveinfurth, 2326! 



Iiower Guinea. Lower Congo: Kisantu, on tlie River Inkissi, Qillet, 13731 

 1375 ! Angola : Ambaca, Wehvitsch, 6842 ! 



Mozaia'b:^ Dist. Grerman East Africa : Gonda (I<:;'onda), Boehm, 106 ! 



Also in Madagascar, Soutli Africa, India, China, Malaya and Australia. 



The corresponding species in Tropical America, Ji". mutata, E. Br., is exceedingly 

 near this, and is united with it, perliaps rightl)', by Boeckcler. 



4. E. atropurpurea, Kunth, Enum. ii. 151. A glabrous annual. 

 Stems tufted, 2-G in. long, slender. Spikelet 1, J— j in. long, ovoid or 

 cylindric, very dense, with many flowers, dull greenish-red. Glumes 

 elliptic, obtuse, caducous. Hypogynous bristles 5-7, white, retrorse- 

 scabrid, in the African plant usually J- J the length of the nut, some- 

 times shorter, or wanting or represented }Sy a minute white cup 

 Stamens 3-1. Style-branches 2. Nut -J-j the length of the glume, 

 obovoid, biconvex, smooth, shining black. Style-base depressed conic, 

 glistening white. — J. Gay in Flora, 19>4r2, 641 ; C. B. Clarke in Hook, f . 

 Fl. Brit. Ind.- vi. 627, and in Durand & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Air. 

 v. 596 ; Durand & Schinz, Etudes Fl. Congo, i. 298 ; Urban, Symb. 

 Antill. ii. 65. E. capitata, var,, Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 553. 

 E, mona7idra, Hochst. ex Steud. Syn. PL Glum. ii. 75. Scirpus atro- 

 purpureus, Retz. Obs. v. 14. Isolepis setifolia, A. Rich, Tent. Fl. 

 Abyss, ii. 498. /, dichroa, Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. ii. 91. Isolepis 

 sp., Oliver in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 168. Heleocharis atropur- 

 purea, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. ed. ii. 853 ; Boeck. in Linnaea, xxxvi. 458, 

 excl. var. y. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Boger, 113 ! Perrottet, 334 ! 8J9J 



Nile Xiand. Kcrdofan : in muddy places on Arashkol Mountain, Kotscby, 



129 ! Abyssinia, Quartin-Dillon S^ Petit ! 



laO-WBT Guinea. Lower Congo, Smith ! 



Al<o in North Italy and Switzerland, Mauritius, India, China, Malaya, Qoeens- 

 Iiiiid, and throughout Tropical America. 



Occasionally there are "rjidical" spikelets, i.e. some of the tufted peduncles 

 are shortened almost to suppression, as occurs in various species of Pycreus, 

 Fimhristylis, and Bulbostylis. 



5. E. capitata, R. Br. Prodr. 225. A glabrous annual. Stems 

 tufted, 2-8 in. long, in Vogel's examples exceeding "a foot. Spikelet 1, 

 ovoid, lanceolate or cylindric, dense, dull greenish-red, usually YV~i V^' 

 long, in Vogel's examples J by -J in. Glumes elliptic, obtuse, caducous 

 from the lowest fertile glume upwards. Hypogynous bristles 7 or 

 fewer, as long as the nut, ferruginous or red-brown, retrorse scabrid, or 

 sometimes much depauperated, occasionally to a 6-notched small cup. 

 Stamens 3-1. Style- branches 2. Nut f tlie length of the glume, 

 obovoid, biconvex, smooth, shining black ; style- base depressed conic, 



