496 CTPERACE^:. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



surmounted by a flattish cap-shaped tubercle as large as itm-lf. Wet sandv 

 Massachusetts, along tlie coast, to Virginia and southward. 



2. ELEOCIIARIS PROPER. Scales of the terete several -many-jlutKered spike 



membranaceous, and with a midrib or nerce, iinbrira/td in iitorr. than three ranks. 

 * Aclienium lenticular (smooth) : style 2-cleft, in No. 4 commonly 3-clefl : spike dense, 

 many-flowered : culnu rather slender, spongy. (ELEOGEM :s, .\ 



4. E. obtiisn, Sehultes. Culms nearly terete, tufted (8'- 14' high) from 

 fibrous roots; spike gfobose-oroid and with age oblong, obtuse (dull brown); the 

 sf<tl<s very obtuse and numerous (80-130), densely crotrdcd in many ranks ; style 3- 

 ( rarely 2-) cleft; achcnium obovate, shining, tumid-margined, about half the 

 length of the 6 bristles, crowned with a short and very broad flattened tubercle. 

 Muddy places; everywhere common. 



5. E. oliVikcca. Torr. Culms flattish, grooved, diffusely tufted on slcn 

 der matted rootstocks (2' -4' high); spike ocate, acutish, 20 - SQrfou; /, d ; aralcs 

 orate, obtuse, rather loosely imbricated in many ranks (purple with a green mid- 

 rib and slightly scarious margins) ; achenium obovate, dull, abruptly beaked 

 with a narrow tubercle, about half the length of the G-8 bristles. Inundated 

 sandy soil, Massachusetts to New Jersey near the coast, and southward. 



6. E. palustris, R. Brown. Culms nearly terete, striate (l-2 high), 

 from running rootstocks; spike oblong-lanceolate, pointed, many-flowered; scales 

 ovate-oblong, loosely imbricated in several ranks, reddish-brown with a broad and 

 translucent whitish margin and a greenish keel, the upper acutish, the lowest 

 rounded and often enlarged ; achenium obovate, somewhat shining, crowned 

 with a short ovate or ovate-triangular flattened tubercle, shorter than the usually 

 4 bristles. Var. GLAUCESCENS (S. glaucesccns, Willd.!) : culms slender or fili- 

 form ; tubercle narrower and acute, beak-like, sometimes half the length of the 

 achenium. Var. CALVA (E. calva, Torr.): bristles wanting; tubercle short, 

 nearly as in the true E. palustris, but rather narrower (Watertown, New York, 

 Oratoe). Very common, cither in water, when it is pretty stout and tall; or in 

 low grassy grounds, when it is slender and lower. (Eu.) 



* # Achenium triangular : style 3-cleft : bristles sometimes Jew and fragile or alto- 

 gether loanting. (SciRrfDiuii, Nees, nearly.) 

 - Spike much broader than the filiform or slender culm : scales imbricated in several 



ranks, brownish or purplish with scarious whitish margins, l-nerrnl. 

 - Bristles 4-6, longer than the achenium, stout and bearded downward. 



7. E. I'OStCllata, Torr. Culms flutteiud u>l slriaii-(/n>ur<-d, iciry, erect 

 (L-2 high), the sheath transversely truncate; spike ovoid-lanceoktte, (n'nt< , 12- 

 ZQ-flowend; scales ovate, obtuse, rather rigid (light brown) ; achenium smooth, 

 obovate-triangular, narrowed into the confluent pyramidal tubercle, which is 

 overtopped by the 4 -G bristles. Marshes, Rhode Island (Olney], Fenn V. , 

 New York (Sarticdl), and Michigan. Allied to S. multicaulis of Ku. 



8. E. intermedia, Schultcs. Culms capillary, wiry, striute-gr. 

 densely tufted from fibrous roots, diffusely spreading or reclining (G 1 - 

 tpike oblong-ovate, acutish, loosely lQ-18-Jloivered (2" -3" long); seal 



ibtuse, green-keeled, the sides purplish-brown ; acheiuum .smooth, obovoid with 



