Scirpus."] CLXXII. CYPEKACE.E. (C. B. Clarke.) 655 



Temp, and Alpine HIMALAYA, alt. 8-13,000 ft. , from Kashmir to SIKKIM. 

 DISTRIB. Throughout Europe, Asia ; in Africa; in Australia. 



Rhizome -3 in., almost filiform, or more often 0. Stems 1-8 in. Leaf usually 

 about 1 in., setaceous, sometimes nearly as long as the stem. Spikelets T V~ ^ n - 

 6-20-fld. ; bract as though a continuation of the stem. Glumes ovate, obtuse, keeled. 

 Nut as long as half its glume, trigonous obovoid, obtuse, minutely apiculate ; outer- 

 most cells transversely short-oblong, superimposed in 6-9 vertical series on each 

 face, so that the nut appears on each face longitudinally 6-9-striate. Much mixed 

 in herbaria, and by many authors (even Boeckeler), with S. cernuus, Vahl (8. Savii, 

 Sebast. Sf Mauri) which differs in the smooth nut, i.e. the outermost cells are 

 quadrate-hexagonal, somewhat obscure, not arranged in vertical series (nut minutely 

 reticulate not horizontally striate). 8. cernuus, Vahl is a cosmopolitan species, 

 except India and the adjacent countries. 



6. S. Koloschoenus, Linn. Sp. PI. 72 ; stems rather stout, umbel 

 lateral (rarely reduced to a single head) of distant dense globes of 

 numerous small spikelets, style 3-fid, nut trigonous obovoid smooth 

 minutely reticulate leaden-black. Boeck. in Linnsea, xxxvi. 720; Boiss. 

 Fl Orient, v. 381. Holoschoenus vulgaris, Link Hort. Berol. i. 293. H. 

 filiformis and H. australis, Reichb. in Flora, 1830, p. 499, 500, and Ic. Fl. 

 Germ. viii. 44, 45, t. 316, 317 (erroneous as to setse). 



PUNJAB; Hazara, alt. 4000 ft., Stewart. SIND ; Pinwill. DISTRIB. Europ., 

 Afric., W. Asia. 



Rhizome horizontal, woody, covered by ovate chestnut scales ; fibrous roots 

 thick, often (when growing in sand) woolly. Stems 8-30 in., approximate, terete. 

 Leaves all near the base of the stem, sometimes 6 in. long, usually shorter, or re- 

 duced almost to sheaths. Umbel simple or very compound of 1-80 usually (2-10) 

 heads ; lowest bract sometimes 4-8 in., sometimes y-1 in. Spikelets scarcely in., 

 ellipsoid, dense-fid. Glumes ovate, keel subexcurrent, tip hairy (rarely glabrous). 

 Stamens 3 ; anthers red-crested. Nut small, as long as J-f glume, subtriquetrous, 

 obtuse, minutely apiculate ; outermost cells minute, quadrate-hexagonal, obscure, 

 withering (nut more or less white-veiled by such withered fragments on the dark 

 nut). In one example in Herb. Calcutta (from the N.-W. Himalaya ?) I found two 

 lateral scales, very similar^ and similarly placed to those occasionally found in S. 

 Isolepis, Boeck., but much stouter, and which I suppose may represent 4 bristles 

 dilated and connate in pairs. (See Journ. Bot. xxx. 321323.) 



Sect. 3. SCIRPTJS PROPER. Large or middle-sized. Stems leafy only 

 near the base. Inflorescence various, but spikelets not spicate. Hypogy- 

 nous bristles often present. Style long. Differs from Sect. Isolepis very 

 little except in the frequent presence of bristles. 



* Niit more or less transversely muricated (the outer cells of the nut 

 are longitudinal oblong, so that their thickened, often elevated, ends form a 

 transverse wavy line). 



In these 6 closely allied species spikelets clustered clusters solitary or umbellate 

 glumes entire, i.e. apex neither emarginate nor hispid bristles simply scabrous or 

 anthers not crested style 3-fid (or in S. debilis 2-fid.) 



7. S. supinus, Linn. Sp.PL 73(partly)-, stems medium terete, spikelets 

 in a single lateral head (in var. heads few closely umbelled), glumes ovate 

 keeled with suberect mucro, bristles 0, style 3-fid, nut obovoid triquetrous 

 obtuse transversely scabrous-undulate black. Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 217 ; Reichb. 

 Ic. Fl. Germ. viii. 40, E, 302 ; Boeck. in Linnsea, xxxvi. 699 (excl. var. /3 

 and y). S. melanospermus, A. C. Meyer, Cyp. Nov. t. 2. Isolepis supina, 



