Scleria.] cyperaceje. 401 



unable to identify them with certainty. They agree exceedingly well, as far as they go, with 

 the descriptions given of Steudel's plant. They may possibly however belong to the S. suma- 

 trensis, Retz, a common species in southern India and the Archipelago, but in that species 

 the upper leaves are almost always clustered in twos or threes, whilst in ours they are nearly 

 equidistant, although mostly so near together that the sheaths overlap each other. In the 

 true S. sumatrensis the 3 disk-lobes are 3-toothed at the top. 



16. CAREX, Linn. 



Flowers unisexual, the males and females in distinct spikelets or in differ- 

 ent parts of androgynous spikelets. Glumes imbricated all round the axis. 

 Stamens in the males 3 or rarely fewer, without scales or bristles. Ovary in 

 the females enclosed in a bottle-shaped or inflated utricle, contracted at the 

 top, with a small oblique or 2-toothed opening, through which protrudes the 

 style, which is 3-cleft in the Hongkong species, 2-cleft in a few others. Nut 

 enclosed in the persistent utricle. — Leaves grass-like, mostly radical, or on the 

 lower part of the stem. Spikelets either solitary or few, one terminal, the 

 others mostly distant or stalked, or forming a terminal compound spike or 

 panicle. Within the utricle there is occasionally a small bristle, but never 

 hooked nor so strong as in Uncinia. 



A very large and well-defined genus, widely spread over Europe, northern and central 

 Asia, and N. America, extending also into mountain ranges within the tropics, and into the 

 extratropical regions of the southern hemisphere. 



Spikelets numerous, small, sessile iu a compound panicle . . . . l.C. benghalensis. 

 Spikelets few in a simple raceme. 



Spikelets 2 or 3 terminal male, 2 to 4 lower female. Dwarf plant 2. 0. pumila. 

 Spikelets 1 terminal male, 2 to 4 lower female (rarely with a few 

 male flowers at their base). 

 Glumes scarcely pointed. 



Glumes obtuse, with a broad scarious margin 3. C. ligata. 



Glumes acute, not margined. Utricle glabrous. Nut stipitate 4. C. nexa. 

 Glumes keeled, shortly pointed. Utricle pubescent . . . 5. C. manca. 



Glumes with long subulate points 6. C. chinensis. 



Spikelets 1 terminal male, 2 or more androgynous, male at the top. 

 Utricles long-beaked. 

 Stems elongated. Leaves narrow. Androgynous spikes all re- 

 mote 7. C. tenebrosa. 



Stems short. Leaves long and very broad. Upper androgynous 



spike close to the male 8. 0. Harlandi. 



Spikelets several, all short, androgynous and remote. Utricles 



short 9. C. cryptostachya. 



1. C. benghalensis, Roxb. » Boott, Illustr. Car. 85, it. 240 to 243. 

 An erect leafy perennial, 1^ to 3 ft. high, resembling at first sight the Scleria 

 scrobiculata and its allies. Leaves 1 to 2 ft. long, 3 to 5 lines broad at the 

 base, tapering into long fine points, nearly smooth. Spikelets 3 to 5 lines 

 long, androgynous, female at the base, very numerous, sessile, and spreading 

 in dense compound oval or oblong panicles. Glumes closely imbricate, brown, 

 pointed. Utricles small, ovoid-triangular, with several very prominent veins 

 on each face, and a rather long slender beak. 



Hongkong, Champion and others. Common in India, and considered by Munro (in Seem. 

 Bot. Her. 423) to be a form of the true C. indica, Linn. ; Boott, however, retains the latter as 

 a distinct species, with a more simple inflorescence, besides minor differences in the glumes 

 and utricles. 



2 D 



