X Y R 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



X YR 



827 



bordered, roughish leaves; spike oblong or cylindrical; scales 

 orbicular, tumid. Native of New Holland. 



7. Xyris Scabra: Rough Xyris. Stalk two-edged, twisted, 

 with rather acute and rough angles; leaves linear; roughish 

 head ovate or oblong. Native of New Holland. 



8. Xyris Leevis,; Smooth Xyris. Stalk two-edged, 

 smooth, as well as the narrow linear leaves ; head nearly 

 ovate ; scales imbricated every way ; keels of the cnlix-leaves 

 fringed. Found in New Holland. 



9. Xyris Americana; Blue American Xyris. Stalks two- 

 edged in the upper part, round in the lower part, with two 

 prominent lines running down it, a foot or more in height; 

 head ovate-oblong, rather bigger than a pea; scales polished, 

 emarginate, with a small callous intermediate point. The 

 corolla is said to be blue ; and the leaves grassy, narrow and 

 acute, half the length of the stalk. Native of moist pastures 

 in Brazil. 



10. Xyris Caroliniana; Carolina Xyris. Stalk two-edged; 

 head ovate, acute, small. This species is extremely vari- 

 able; but is said to be distinguished from the last in having 

 more rigid leaves, and large acute heads ; the leaves vary in 

 length ; and the flowers are yellow. Native of Carolina ; and 

 found in low grassy fields, on a sandy soil, from New Jersey 

 to Florida. It is perennial, and flowers from June to 

 August. 



11. Xyris Torta; Twisted-leaved Xyris. Leaves linear, 

 spirally twisted, as well as the stalk, which is two-edged 

 below, quadrangular at the upper part; they are from one 

 to ten inches long, a line broad, acute, many-ribbed, roughish 

 at the edges, perfectly grassy; the outermost degenerating 

 into broad, short, chestnut-coloured, pointed, imbricated 

 scales : stalks solitary, about two feet high, nearly round, 

 though two-edged and striated at the bottom, as well as more 

 twisted than the leaves, but the tipper part least, more dis- 

 tinctly two-edged, having towards the top four, sometimes 

 unequal, angles : head globose, the size of a large white cur- 

 rant, obtuse, of n shining chestnut colour : scales polished, 

 rounded, somewhat emarginate, pointless, with a small silky 

 disk; they are almost orbicular, convex, dilated and thin at 

 the edges ; two or three of the lowermost are smaller, flatter, 

 and slightly keeled. Found in North America. 



12. Xyiis Pusilla; Dwarf Broad-leaved Xyris. Stalk 

 two-edged, smooth, like the short, sword-shaped, two-ranked, 

 equitant leaves, from two to six inches high, of a pale green, 

 a little zigzag and twisted, somewhat quadrangular, sheathed 

 at the base, with one or two leaves, which, like those growing 

 from the root, are about an inch long, and two or three lines 

 broad, slightly incurved at the point, of a pale shining green 

 colour, with several ribs, and, in a dry state, have a finely 

 dotted or reticulated surface : head orbicular, compressed, of 

 a few shining, somewhat keeled, and pointed scales, which 

 are orbicular, convex, of a shining chestnut brown, pale at 

 the edges ; the two lowermost equal, destitute of flowers, 

 which in an early state cover the whole head, and are fur- 

 nished with a strong green pointed keel. Found in the tro- 

 pical part of New Holland. 



13. Xyris Denticulata; Tooih-leaved Xyris. Stalk round- 

 ish, smooth, slender, striated or angular towards the top; 

 leaves short, linear, awl-shaped, rough with minute marginal 

 teeth, from one to two inches long, not a line broad, their 

 fine reticulations seeming to form the teeth at the margin and 

 keel: head globose, twice as large as in the preceding species, 

 consisting of more numerous bright chestnut scales, withth in, 

 pale, often jagged margins, and a small green keel or point, 

 not extending beyond the scale; the scales orbicular, shining, 

 keeled at the summit, the two lowermost barren. The root 



VOL. n. 135, 



consists of very small fibres. Found in the tropical part 

 of New Holland. 



14. Xyris Paludosa; Bog Xyris. Stalk roundish, smooth, 

 angular at the top; leaves somewhat tubular, that of the 

 stalk longer than the sheath; head nearly globular; scales 

 orbicular, shining, imbricated every way. Found in the 

 tropical part of New Holland. 



15. Xyris Capensis; Cape Xgns. Stalk solitary, thread- 

 shaped, striated, smooth, a foot high ; leaves linear, very 

 short, few, radical, smooth, and many times shorter than the 

 stalk ; flowers yellow ; stigmas three, tumid, revolute, whitish. 

 Native of the Cape. 



16. Xyris Brevifolia; Short-leaved American Xyris. Stalk 

 thread-shaped, a span high, round and slender ; leaves awl- 

 shaped, compressed, narrow, an inch and a half long; head 

 globose, the size of a black pepper-corn ; scales broadish- 

 oblong, the outermost narrowest, keeled. Native of boggy 

 meadows in Lower Carolina and Georgia: perennial. 



17. Xyris Pauciflora; Few-flowered Xyris. Stalk qua- 

 drangular, from one to six or eight inches high, erect, 

 straight, slender, striated, roughish ; leaves linear, rough with 

 minute marginal teeth, erect, sometimes nearly as tall as the 

 stalk., grassy, very narrow, taper-pointed, striated ; head 

 nearly globular, the size of a large pea ; scales shining, orbi- 

 cular, spreading at the point, with a short triangular keel, 

 chestnut-coloured, with a membranous, dilated, shining mar- 

 gin, of a golden yellow, and each tipped with a green, trian- 

 gular, projecting keel or point, originating from the brown 

 disk, but not extending beyond the membranous margin, with 

 which it is incorporated ; the prominence of this point gives 

 the head a squarrose appearance. The root is a small dense 

 tuft of pale fibres. Native of the East Indies, and the tropi- 

 cal part of New Holland. 



18. Xyris Bracteata; Bracteated Xyris. Stalk triangular, 

 a foot and a half high, slender and rushy, even, smooth to the 

 touch, though the most acute angle is roughish ; leaves linear, 

 their margins, and the base of the keel, rough ; head round- 

 ish, or rather ovate than perfectly globose, one-third of an 

 inch long; scales with a hoary disk, and brown membranous 

 margin, the lower ones oblong, empty, with a linear disk, 

 which is elliptic, oblong, convex, not keeled, of a hoary or 

 glaucous hue, finely dotted, not downy ; their margin at each 

 side about half as broad, membranous, of a shining brown, 

 paler outwards ; there are several more scales at the bottom 

 of each head, which are destitute of flowers, shorter, much 

 narrower, abrupt, oblong, not elliptical, with a peculiarly 

 narrow disk, and have the appearance of bractes ; corolla 

 rather large, yellow, turning white in decay.-i-Native of Port 

 Jackson, New South Wales. 



19. Xyris Juncea; Rushy Xyris. Stalk roundish, slightly 

 compressed, rather zigzag, smooth, as well as the awl-shaped 

 leaves, only eight or ten inches high ; head globose ; scales 

 ovate, undivided, imbricated every way, their disk of the 

 same colour as the margin; stigmas many-cleft. Found near 

 Port Jackson, New South Wales. 



20. Xyris Gracilis ; Slender Xyris. Stalk thread-shaped 

 smooth, scarcely twisted, somewhat compressed, seldom above 

 a foot high; head oval, consisting of few flowers, small, obo- 

 vate ; scales imbricated every way; their disk hoary; marein 

 blackish. The disk resembles that of the eighteenth species, 

 but the membranous margin of the scales is of a darker 

 brown, and at the upper part of each quite black, as if burnt. 

 Some of the lowest scales are smaller, linear-oblong, and of a 

 more uniform brown ; stigmas undivided, long. Native of 

 New Holland, and Van Diemen's island. 



21. Xyris Filiformis; Thread-shaped Xyris. Stalk thread- 

 10 A 



