456 CLvi. CYPERACEiE (clarke). [Scirpus. 



Leaves several, often as long as the stem, J-J in. broad. Umbel com- 

 pound or simple or reduced to a head of 3-1 spikelets; rarely exceeding 

 4-6 in. in diam. ; bracts several, similar to the leaves, the lowest often 

 4-8 in. long. Spikelets 3-40 to the umbel, J-1 by i in., dark brown, 

 often clustered. Glumes ovate, at the tip emarginate and hairy, keel 

 excurrent in a mucro. Hypogynous bristles 6-3, usually shorter than 

 the nut, stiff, retrorsely scabrid, sometimes hardly any. Style long ; 

 branches 3 or 2, long. Nut varying much in size, unequally trigonous 

 or flattened, obovoid, black, smooth or minutely reticulate. — Sowerby, 

 Engl. Bot. t. 542; Kunth, Enum. ii. 167; Benth. in Hook, Niger 

 Fl. 553 ; Boeck. in Linnaea, xxxvi. 722 ; Coss. et Durieu, Expl. Sc. 

 Alger. Glum. 237 ; Ridley in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. ii. 158, 

 incl. vars. ; C. B. Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi. 658, in Durand 

 ck Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 62Qj in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. Append, 

 iii. 32, and in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vii. 232 ; K, Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost- 

 Afr. C. 126 ; Rendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 127, incl. var. nobilis. 

 aS. corymbosus, Forsk. Fl. ^gypt.-Arab. 14, not of Roth. S. squarro- 

 su,lu8, Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. ii. 88. Isolepis grandispicay Steud. Syn. 

 y\. Glum. ii. 318. 



Upper Guinea. Senega], Soffer ! F err otfef, 3181 Senegamh'ia,, Leprienr ! 



Wile Xiand. Soinaliland, Keller, 92 bis ! 93 ! 94 ! 98 ! 



Iiower Guinea. Angola : Congo ; near Quizembo, Welwitsch, 6992 ! 

 7003! Ifolo e Bengo; near Funda, IVehvitsch, 6980 I 7011! Mossamedes ; in cotton- 

 fields, Welwitsch, 6972 ! near Giraul, Welwitsch, 6974 ! banks of the Eiver 

 Maiombo, Welwitsch, 6975 ! 



Mozaxnb. 3>ist. German East Africa: Usambara; e^K. Schumann! Portu- 

 ;L'uese East Africa : Mozambique, Forbes ! Chiloare, Scott ! British Central Africa : 

 Nyasaland ; Shire Valley, near Mankokone, Kirk ! Meller ! Boruma, on the Zambesi, 

 Menyharth, 534 ! 



Including the forms esteemed varieties by Boeckeler and Benthani, this species 

 i^ abundant over ail warm temperate and cool regions. 



18. S. Iseteflorens, C. B. Clarke in Durand d- Schinz, Conspect. 

 Fl. Afr. V. 625. Stem very stout, at the top triquetrous, scabrid on 

 the angles. Leaves very scabrid on the margins. Umbel 3-4 times 

 divided, 10 in. in diam., with 200 spikelets. Spikelets a pale bright 

 cinnamon-brown, the glumes glistening all over with golden hairs : 

 otherwise as very large >.S'. 'maritimus. — C. B, Clarke in Bull. Herb. 

 Boiss. iv. Append, iii. 32. 



]Lower Guinea. South-west Africa, Chapman Sr Baines ! Hererolaud, Fleck, 

 112a ! 



19. S. littoralis, Schrad. Fl. Germ. i. 142, t. 5, Jig. 7. Glabrous, 

 except the glumes. Rhizome short, or sometimes elongate, slender for 

 the plant. Stems lJ-3 ft. long, approximate, at the base J- J in. in 

 diam., terete, at the top triquetrous, trigonous or nearly round. Leaves 

 usually \-2 in. lung, membranous, sometimes green, up to 4 in. long. 

 Umbel compound, with numerous, mostly pedicelled, spikelets ; lowest 

 bract J-3 in. long, as though a continuation of the stem. Spikelets 

 J-f by i in., subcylindric. Glumes ovate, obtuse, emarginate, rusty- 



