CLASS in. ORDER I.] RHYNCHOSPORA. 47 



number, spiny, and shorter than the glumes. Style bifid, dilated at 

 the base, more or less articulated, persistent, and crowning the 

 fruit. -Name from 5 uyxoj, a beak, and <TKO ? , a seed ; on account 

 of the beaked appearance of the seed, from the persistent dilated 

 base of the style. 



1. R. al'ba, (Fig. 66.) white Beak-rush. Spikelets in compact fasci- 

 culated clusters, nearly as long as the bracteas, leaves narrow, 

 channelled, linear, tapering. 



English Flora, vol. i. p. 52. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 279. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 27. Schce'nus al'bus, English Botany, t. 985. 



Root fibrous, somewhat creeping, tough. Stem four to twelve inches 

 high, slender, erect, three-cornered, and, as well as the whole plant, 

 smooth. Leaves erect, longer than the partial flower-stalks, keeled, 

 ribbed, especially at the base, sheathing the stem. Partial flower- 

 stalks and leaves of the stem frequently unilateral. Spikelets obloug, 

 almost white, becoming brown with age, generally two-flowered. Clus- 

 ters nearly level at the top, mostly shorter than the bracteas. Glumes 

 long, acute, slightly keeled, the outer ones smaller, and barren. Sta- 

 mens two. Style persistent, bifid at the extremity, and much dilated 

 at the base, but not so broad as the fruit, which is obovate, compressed, 

 margined, tapering at the base, and surrounded with six or more spiny 

 bristles, longer than itself. 



Habitat. Boggy situation, not uncommon in mountainous districts, 

 but rare elsewhere. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



A very pretty Rush, growing in tufts, which are rendered very con- 

 spicuous by their numerous white heads of flowers amidst the narrow 

 green leaves, and readily distinguished from the following species, 

 which has oval heads of flowers of a rich glossy brown colour. 



2. .R. fus'ca, (Fig. 67.) brotvn Beak-rush. Spikelets in an oval head, 

 much shorter than the bracteas, leaves setaceous. 



English Flora, vol. i. p. 53. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 279. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 27. Schce'nus fus'cus, English Botany, 1. 1575. 



Plant smaller, or about the same size as the last. Leaves narrower, 

 channelled at the base, sheaths shorter. Heads of flowers larger, oval, 

 the bracteas considerably longer. Spikelets larger. Glumes broader, 

 shining, of a rich reddish-brown colour. Stamens three. Style similar 

 to the last, as well as the fruit ; but the stigmas protrude further be- 

 yond the glumes. Bristles various : Smith and Sturm describe only 

 three in each flower Hooker six, which we also find in the specimens 

 examined. 



Habitat. Rare. Principally found in bogs in the south-west of 

 England, and near Killarney, Ireland. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



