CYrERACE.fi. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 499 



3. S. Sllliferinillfalis, Torr. Culms (l-3 long) and slender terett 

 leaves i miners I and cellular ; spike overtopped by a green bract, which appears like 

 a prolongation of the culm, oblong, raised out of the water; scales scarcely 

 pointed ; bristles 6, bearded downwards, rather shorter than the abruptly-pointed 

 aehenium. Slow streams and ponds, New Jersey and New England to Michi- 

 gan, and westward. Aug. 



* * Spikes clustered (rarely reduced to one), appearing lateral by the extension of tht 



one -laved involucre exactly like a continuation of the naked culm. 



*- Cnhn triangular, stont, chiefly from running root stock s : spikes many-Jlow^red, 



rust i/ brown, closely sessile in one cluster : sheaths at base more or less leaf-bearing. 



4. S. pl'ingreiis, Vahl. Culm sharply 3-angled throughout (1- 4 high), 

 with concave sides ; leaves 1-3, elongated (4' -10' long), keeled and channelled; 

 spikes 1-6, capitate, ovoid, long overtopped by the pointed involucral leaf; 

 scales ovate, sparingly ciliate, 2-cleft at the apex and awl-pointed from between 

 the acute lobes ; anthers tipped with an awl-shaped minutely fringed appendage ; 

 style 2-cleft ; bristles 2-6, shorter than the obovate plano-convex and mucronate 

 smooth aehenium. (S. triqueter, Michx., not of L. S. Americanus, Pars.) 

 Borders of salt and fresh ponds and streams. July, Aug. This is the species 

 generally used for making rush-bottom chairs. (Eu.) 



5. S. Ollieyi, Gray. Cnhn ^-wing-angled, with deeply excavated sides, stout 

 (2 -7 high), the upper sheath bearing a short 3-angular leaf or none, spikes 6- 

 12, closely capitate, ovoid, obtuse, overtopped by the short involucral leaf; scales 

 orbicular, smooth, the inconspicuous mucronate point shorter than the scarious 

 apex ; anthers with a very short and blunt minutely bearded tip ; style 2-cleft ; bris- 

 tles 6, scarcely equalling the obovate plano-convex mucronate aehenium. Salt 

 marshes, Martha's Vineyard, Oakes, Rhode Island, Olney, and New Jersey, 

 Knieskern ; also southward. July. Cross-section of the stem strongly 3-rayed, 

 with the sides parallel. Much nearer than the last to the European S. triqueter, 

 which has similar anthers and an abbreviated or almost abortive leaf; but its 

 culm is wingless, and the cluster of spikes compound, some of them umbellate- 

 stalked. 



6. S. Torreyi, Olney. Culm 3-angled, with concave sides, rather slender 

 (2 high), leafy at the base; leaves 2-3, more than half the length of the culm, tri- 

 angular-channelled, slender ; spikes 1-4, ovate-oblong, acute, distinct, sessile, long 

 overtopped by the slender erect involucral leaf; scales ovate, smooth, entire, 

 barely mucronate ; style 3-cleft ; bristles longer than the unequally triangular obovate 

 very smooth and long-pointed aehenium. (S. mucronatus, Pursh ? Torr. Fl. N. Y.) 

 Borders of ponds, both brackish and fresh, New England to Michigan. July, 

 Aug. (S. mucronatus, L., should it be found in the country, will be known 

 by its leafless sheaths, conglomerate head of many spikes, stout involucral leaf 

 bent to one side, &c.) 



- H- Culm terete, naked. 



7. S. lacfistris, L. (BULRUSH.) Culm large, cylindrical, gradually 

 tapering at the apex (3 -8 high), the sheath bearing a small lineai -awl-shaped 

 leaf or none; spikes ovate-oblong, numerous, in a con pound umbel-like panicle 

 turned to one side, rusty-brown ; scales ovate, mucronate ; bristles 4 - 6 ; acheniunj 



