41G OXL. IIESTIACE.'E. 



1-cellcd, indeliisccnt, surmoimted by the remnants of 2 woody 

 styles. — Slieatlis persistent. — Kunth, I.e. p. 488. 



Tall, reed-like plants, with male inflorescence like tliat of Willdenovia-, 

 the female spikelets, however, ai*e not solitary, and the flowers, as well as the 

 fruit, are destitute of stalks. — 2 species, natives of the Cape. 



12. ? ANTHOCHORTUS, Nees ab Esenb. 



" Flowers dioecious. — Males sub racemose, protected by 

 spreadiu*^ bracts, clusters small, few-flowered, loose, axillary. 

 Perianth funnel-shaped, 6-parted, chartaceo-membranous ; se<ij- 

 ments of equal length, the outer ones narrower. Stamens 3, 

 oj)posite to the inner segments ; filaments short, contiguous 

 at the base ; anthers linear, acute, with a depressed median 

 furrow at the upper portion, attached above the base, yellow. 

 Rudiment of the pistil 0. — Female flower not known. — Stems 

 filiform, tortuous, slender, articulate, fasciculately branched. 

 Sheaths leafless, acute, spreading, membranous ; special 

 sheaths at the origin of each branch obtuse. Clusters short, 

 cernuous, solitary in the axils of the upper sheaths. Eachis 

 filiform, flexuose. Flow^ers 2-6, remote, shortly stalked, 

 purple? Bract subperfoliate. " — Nees ah Esenb. in Lindl. In- 

 trod. Nat. Si/st. Bot. ed. 2. p. 451 ; Kunth, I.e. p. 485. 



A doubtful genus, established upon some fragments of male plants now 

 in Dr. Sender's herbarium. Probably these are the male plants of a species 

 of HypolcBna. In the uncertainty as to the true nature of this genus, Nees's 

 description is given at length. 



13. ? CRASPEDOLEPIS, Steudel. 



Spikelets terminal, 1-3. Flowers dioecious.— Males ? — 

 Female flowers spicate. Bracts imbricate, cartilaginous, aris- 

 tulato-mucronate, mostly sterile, naked, fertile bracts 1-2, fim- 

 briate at the margin, and pro^dded with 5 stigmatiform appen- 

 dages ? Sepals 4 ?, hyaline, oblong, lanceolate. Style 1 ; 

 stigmas 2, shorter than the bracts. Ovary oblong, rather 

 rough on the surface, half the length of the petals. Fruit . . . 

 — Htcudel, Synops. ii. p. 2G4. 



A doubtful and scarcely-known genus. 



Oeder CXLI. CYPERACE^. 



Flowers arranged in spikelets, consisting of several scale- 

 like, dry or half-herbaceous bracts, called glumes, arranged 

 alternately along an axis (rachis or racheole) ; each glume 

 having in its axil a solitary, sessile flower. Perianth either 

 or formed of a definite number of bristles; or disk-like ; more 



