422 CXLT. CYPEKACE^. 



cimeate or lanceolate, membranous scale ; valves hyaline, 

 covering the flower. Perianth 0. Stamens 2-3. Ovary flat- 

 tened ; style 2-fid, equal at base. Achene obovate-clavate, bi- 

 convex, shortly stipitate, punctulate, enclosed in the valves of 

 the larger palea. — Kunth, I.e. p. 269. 



P. Capens!<}, our only species, was discovered by Drcge on the Katberg 

 and in Caffraria. Its culms are slender, tufted, leafy at base, and bear a 

 head of 1-3 spikelets, subtended by 2 long involucral bracts. The whole 

 plant is very pale. 



Tribe 4. EiixNCHOSPOREiE. (Glen. 14-26.) 

 14. TRIANOPTILES, Eenzl. 



Spikelets 2-flowered, both bisexual. Grlumes distichous, 

 keeled, boat-shaped, 3 lower empty. Perianth of 3, narrow- 

 linear, 3-fid scales, villous-ciliate below ; the lobules bristle- 

 shaped, the medial longer. Stamens 3. Style very long, 2-fid 

 at the apex, swollen and hairy at the base. Achene obovate, 

 flat towards the axis, convex and obtusely angled in front, 

 minutely dotted, beaked, girt by the persistent enlarged peri- 

 anth scales ; the beak continuous, hairy at tip. — Endl. Gen. 

 113 ; Kunth, I.e. p. 287 {Eeklonia). 



T. Capensis {EcHonia Capensis, Steud.), found on Table Mountain, has 

 simple, leafy culms, and axillary or terminal, subgeminate, many-spikeleted 

 peduncles. Spikelets tufted, lanceolate, subcompressed, brownish-straw- 

 coloured. 



15. RHYNCHOSPORA, Yahl. 



Spikelets 1-9-flowered, either all the flowers bisexual or the 

 lower bisexual or female, the rest male. Grlumes imbricate 

 on all sides (or imperfectly distichous), 1-nerved, often mucro- 

 nate-a^Tied, the lower smaller, empty. Perianth of 6 or more 

 or fewer bristles, sometimes minute or w^anting. Stamens 3 

 (2-1). Style more or less deeply 2-fid, thickened at base. 

 Achenes biconvex, beaked with the persistent, conical or subu- 

 late, hardened style-base. — Kunth, I.e. p. 287. 



Culms leafy. Spikelets capitate, corymbose or pauicled, brown or straw- 

 colour. — Few Cape species. 



16. CLADIUM, E. Br. 



Spikelets 2-1 -flowered, the flowers bisexual, the lower rarely 

 male. Grlumes imbricate on all sides, lower empty. Perianth 

 0. Style 3-fid (rarely 2-fid), conical-bulbous at base, conti- 

 nuous. Achene bony, completely covered over by the much 

 enlarged, cap-like, adherent base of style. — Kuntli, I. c. p. 303. 



C. MariscMS, an almost cosmopolitan species, is found in Uitenhage. 

 Cidms tall, leafy, ending in a long thyrsus of densely, much-branched pa- 

 nicles of small, clustered, chestnut- brown spikelets. 



