t 

 Eriophorum. CYPERACE/E. . 219 



unequal, one much the longer and more erect : spikelets ovate to oblong-ovate, acute, 

 5 to 10 lines long : scales ovate, 2 or 3 lines long, dull brown, emarginate, tipped 

 with a long slender soon recurved awn : bristles 1 to 6, unequal, deciduous, or some- 

 times none : filaments elongated ; anthers 2 lines long : style mostly 3-cleft : nutlet 

 broadly obovate, plano-convex or slightly angled on the back, obtuse and only 

 slightly apiculate, U- lines long. Eeichenb. 1. c., t. 310, 311; Beiith. Fl. Austr. 

 vi. 335. S. robust-us, Presl, 1. c. 194. 



lu saline localities throughout the State and northward to British Columbia, as well as east- 

 ward across the continent. The species is found under several forms in most of the temperate and 

 tropical regions of the globe. 



-t -i Spikelets small, numerous, greenish or lead-colored, in a compound or de- 

 compound umbellate panicle. 



9. S. sylvaticus, Linn. Stem stout, 2 to 5 feet high, obtusely triangular, leafy 

 to the top : leaves broad (usually half an inch wide), elongated ; involucre of simi- 

 lar bracts : panicle decompound, large and open, the spikelets in clusters terminating 

 the branches and in the axils, 1 to 2 lines long, oblong-ovate : scales ovate-lanceo- 

 late, obtuse or sometimes acute : bristles barbed to the base, about equalling the 

 small ( line long) pale nutlet, which is obovate, plano-convex, slightly angled on 

 the back, abruptly short-beaked : styles 3-cleft. Eeichenb. 1. c.,. t. 313. 



Var. digynus, Boeck. Style bifid and the nutlet not at all angled on the back : 

 stamens 2 and bristles 4. Linnsea, xxxvi. 727. S. microcarpus, Presl, 1. c. 195; 

 Gray, Manual, 564. S. lenlicularis, Torr. Cyp. 328. 



Only the variety has been collected in California, where it is rather frequent, ranging from San 

 Dingo County (Cuiamaca Mountains, Palmer) to British Columbia, and across the continent north- 

 ward. The typical European form is collected rarely in New England. 



10. S. atrovirens, Muhl. Very similar to the last : panicle more contracted, 

 the smaller spikelets (1| lines long) crowded in denser and larger clusters : scales 

 narrower and narrowly acuminate : bristles scarcely barbed below the middle : style 

 3-cleft : nutlet oblong-obovate, more acuminate, slightly angled on the back. S. 

 st/lvaticus, var. atrovirens, Boeck. 1. c. 



Plumas County (Mrs. Austin); Oregon (Howell); Colorado, and eastward from the Saskatche- 

 wan and Indian Territory to New England. 



3. Bristles elongated, the barbs directed upward : stem leafy, bearing a sessile 

 head of spikelets subtended by a few involucral scales. 



11. S. criniger, Gray. Stems slender, 3 inches to 2 feet high or more, from 

 densely matted rootstocks, triangular and striate, rough above : leaves flat, rough on 

 the margins, the radical one elongated but shorter than the stem, the cauline only 

 an inch or two long, distant, the uppermost usually very near the top : involucral 

 bracts broad and scale-like, acuminate, 2 to 4 lines long : spikelets 5 to 9, oblong, 3 

 or 4 lines long ; scales thin and soft, brownish, oblong : filaments very slender, 

 much exserted and exceeding the six bristles : style 3-cleft : nutlet oblong, triangu- 

 lar, acute and shortly beaked, a line long. Proc. Amer. Acad. vii. 392. 



In the Sierra Nevada ; Wood's Peak, above Amador Pass near snow (Brewer) ; Plumas County 

 (Mrs. Austin) ; Modoc County (Miss S. A. Plummcr) also in the Red Mountains of Mendociuo 

 County, Bolander. The bristles are not naked and silky as is the case in Trichoj>horum. 



3. EBIOPHOBUM, Linn. COTTON-GRASS. 



Bristles usually very numerous, naked, silky, becoming greatly elongated. Other- 

 wise as Scirpus. Spikelets single or clustered or umbellate, usually involucrate 

 with erect scale-like bracts, upon a leafy or naked stem ; scales membranaceous, 

 1 - 3-nerved. Style very slender and elongated, 3-cleft. Nutlet acutely triangular. 

 Perennials with creeping rootstocks. 



