390 cyperace^:. [Abildgaardia. 



spikclet about \ in. long. Glumes pale straw-colour, very pointed, acutely 

 keeled. Style hairy, with a thickly conical base. Nut obovoid-triangular, 

 minutely tuberculate. 



Hongkong, Harland, Wright. Widely distributed over tropical Asia, tropical and southern 

 Africa, and tropical America. 



2. A. Eragrostis, Vald ; Kunth, Enum. ii. 249. Densely tufted, stiff, 

 and glaucous. Leaves linear, obtuse, 4 to 8 in. long, about 1 line broad. 

 Stems 1 to If ft. high, augular. Umbel irregularly compound. Spikelets 3 

 to 4 lines long, often early becoming spiral, so as to lose the distichous appear- 

 ance. Glumes pale brown, broad, shortly pointed, or the lower ones obtuse. 

 Nut obovoid, minutely tuberculate. — Fimbristyles quinquangularis, Munro in 

 Seem. Bot. Her. 422 ; not of Kunth. 



Hongkong, Hance, Wright. Also in Khasia. 



3. A. fusca, Nees ; KimtJi, Enum. ii. 249. Habit and inflorescence of 

 A. Eragroslis, but a rather smaller and more slender plant, with much narrower 

 leaves more or less pubescent. Spikelets narrower, of a rich uniform brown, 

 3 to 4 lines long. Glumes lanceolate, very pointed, regularly distichous. 

 Stamens 3. Style glabrous. Nut obovoid, with 3 prominent angles; the 

 sides tuberculate, almost muricate. 



Hongkong, Hance, Wright. In Nepal, Java, and Borneo. 



6. FIMBRISTYLES, Vahl. 



Spikelets several-flowered, the glumes imbricate all round, only 1 or 2 of 

 the lowest empty. Flowers hermaphrodite, without hypogynous scales or 

 bristles. Stamens 3 or fewer. Style 2- or 3-cleft, usually thickened at the 

 base and articulate on the nut below the bulb. — Leaves usually radical or 

 sheathing the stem at its base, sometimes all reduced to sheaths. Spikelets 

 solitary on the scape, or more frequently on the rays of a simple or compound 

 umbel, one always sessile, or rarely clustered in a single head or on the rays 

 of the umbel. 



A large genus, widely distributed over the tropical and subtropical regions of the globe, 

 extending also sparingly into the warmer temperate zones. 



Spikelets 1 or few, rarely 5 or 6, ] sessile, the others pedunculate. 



Spikelets solitary (about 4 lines long). Nuts with deep transverse furrows. 



Spikelets ovoid-oblong, brown, more or less nodding . . . . 1. F. nutans. 



Spikelet narrow, pale straw-colour, erect 2. F. acuminata. 



Spikelets 1 to 3, pale straw-colour, very obtuse. Nuts smooth or 



nearly so, sessile 3. F. schoenoides. 



Spikelets 1 to 6. Nuts smooth or nearly so, stipitate. 



Spikelets 7 to 10 lines long, usually solitary 4. F. subbispicata. 



Spikelets about 5 lines long, usually 3 to 6 5. F. podocarpa. 



Spikelets several, often numerous, in a more or less compound irregu- 

 lar umbel. Nuts sessile. 

 Styles 2-cleft (occasionally 3-cleft, with 1 branch smaller). 



Stems f to li ft. high. Leaves stiff. Spikelets brown. Nuts 

 more or less conspicuously striate. 

 Umbel scarcely compound. Leaves very short. Glumes hoary 



at the top 6. F.ferruginea. 



Umbel usually compound.. Leaves 3 to 6 in. long. Glumes 



perfectly glabrous 7. F. di-phylla. 



