386 cyperacEjE. [Oyperus. 



about 2 lines long. Glumes 10 to 20, loosely imbricate, shortly obovate and 

 very obtuse, dark brown, with pale edges. Style short, 3-cleft. Nut about 

 as long as the glume. 



Hongkong, Hance, Harland, Wright. Common in the tropical and subtropical regions of 

 the Old World, extending northward into S. Europe in the west and to Amoy in the east. 



5. C. Iria, Linn. ; Kunth, Enum. ii. 38. Stems ^ to 1^ ft. high or even 

 more. Leaves flaccid, often nearly as long. Umbel of several rays, the longer 

 ones often branched. Spikelets loosely and irregularly clustered or spicate, 2 

 to 4 lines long, obtuse, very flat. Glumes usually 8 to 12, but sometimes at 

 least 20, distant or very loosely imbricate, obovate, very obtuse, of a pale 

 yellow-brown colour. Style short, 3-cleft. Nut as long as the glumes. 



Hongkong, Harland, Wright ; in wet situations at East Point, Wilford. In India, from 

 Ceylon and the Peninsula to the Archipelago, and northward to the Himalaya, Philippines, 

 and S. China. In some specimens the inflorescence is more contracted and the spikelets 

 longer, so as to give the plant the aspect almost of the diandrous C.flavescens. 



6. C. Haspan, Linn. ; Kunth, Enum. ii. 34. Stems slender, tufted, 

 acutely triangular, from a few inches to 1-g- ft. high. Leaves short, sometimes 

 all reduced to sheaths. Umbel-rays often numerous, the longer ones com- 

 pound, the outer leafy bracts seldom as long as the rays. Spikelets 3 or more 

 together in terminal clusters, lanceolate, acute, 2 to 3 lines long. Glumes 10 

 to 20 or sometimes more, not ^ line long, scarcely pointed, reddish-brown on 

 the sides, with a broad green keel. Styles long, 3-cleft. Nut not half the 

 length of the glumes. 



Hongkong, Hance, Harland, Wright ; in marshes in the Happy Valley, Wilford. Common 

 in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, and also not unfrequent in America. 



7. C. radians, Nees in Linncea, ix. 285, and in PI. Meyen. 63. Stems 

 short, densely tufted. Leaves rigid with broad sheaths. Umbel simple or 

 compound, each ray terminating in a dense cluster or head, with leafy bracts 

 at its base, a long pointed bract usually under each spikelet, and several long 

 leafy bracts under the general umbel. Spikelets lanceolate, 2 to 3 lines long. 

 Flowering glumes 3 to 8, broad, strongly veined, with a prominent point, green 

 on the back, more or less red-brown on the sides, and there are usually 2 or 

 3 shorter glumes at the base of the spike, either empty or with a male flower. 

 Style long, 3-cleft. Nut much shorter than the glumes. — C. radicans, Kunth, 

 Enum. ii. 95. 



Hongkong, Wright. In Sikkim, Malacca, Singapore, and Borneo. 



8. C. umbellatus, Benth. Stems 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves narrow, pale- 

 green, often as long or longer. Umbel of many rays but very dense, often 

 contracted into a head, and seldom above 2 in. diameter. Spikelets 2 or 3 

 lines long, linear, acute, only slightly compressed, erect or spreading, and 

 very densely crowded in cylindrical spikes, % to f in. long, occupying often 

 the whole length of the rays. Glumes 4 to 6, the lowest 1 or 2 usually 

 empty, the others narrow, green, several-nerved, above 1 line long. Style 3- 

 cleft. Nut narrow, not much shorter than the glume. — Mariscus umbellatus, 

 Yahl; Kunth, Enum. ii. 118. M. cyperinus, Vahl ; Seem. Bot. Her. 422. 



Hongkong, Hance, Wright. Widely distributed over the tropical and subtropical regions 

 of the Old World. A. Gray has already adopted, what many botanists had suggested, the re- 



