446 CYPERACEjE. [Eriophorum. 



glumes lanceolate with very narrow scarious margins. E. pubes'cens, Sni. — 

 Local ; ascends to 1,500 ft. in N. England ; rare in Ireland. 



4. E, grac'ile, Koch ; stems very slender 3-gonous, leaves very narrow 

 3-quetrous throughout channelled, bracts 1-2 small, spikelets 3-6, fruit 

 narrowly obovate-lanceolate obtuse not mucronate. 



Bogs, very rare, Yorkshire, Surrey, Hants ; fl. June-July. — A doubtful species 

 somewhat intermediate between polysta'chion and latifo'lium. Stem very 

 slender, 1-2 ft., leaves short, exceedingly narrow ; peduncles scabrid ; 

 heads small ; glumes broad, obtuse, distinctly ribbed, brown, without scari- 

 ous margins ; nut very narrow. — Distrib. N. and Mid. Europe (Arctic), 

 Siberia, N. America. 



5. RHYNCHOSPORA, Vahl. 



Perennial, tufted, leafy sedges. Spikelets terete, in axillary and terminal 

 corymbs or panicles. Glumes imbricate all round the rachis, 1-2 only 

 flower-bearing. Flowers 2-sexual, or the upper 1 -sexual. Bristles 6 or more, 

 rarely 0. Style-base tumid, hardened, persistent, stigmas 3. Nut com- 

 pressed or 3-gonous, tipped by a tumid tubercle. — Distrib. Temp, and 

 trop. ; species about 200. — Etym. fivvx * ana< o-iropd, from the beaked 

 fruit. 



1. R. alba, Vahl ; spikelets pale 1-fid., bristles many barbed, stamens 

 2, fruit obovoid contracted below equalling the tumid tubercle. 



Spongy bogs and wet meadows, Shetland to Cornwall and Sussex ; Ireland ; 

 fl. June-July. — Rootstock short. Stems 6-18 in., very slender, 3-gonous 

 above. Leaves subsetaceous, very narrow, channelled. Corymbs small, §-£ 

 in. diam., terminal and axillary, long peduncled, flat-topped; bracts leafy. 

 Spikelets J in., crowded, white or pale brown. Glumes oblong-lanceolato, 

 acuminate, keeled, membranous. — Distrib. N. and Mid. Europe (Arctic), 

 Siberia, N. America. 



2. R. fus'ca, R. and S. ; spikelets dark brown, bristles 6 barbed 

 upwards, stamens 3, fruit obovoid equalling the triangular serrulate 

 tubercle. 



Bogs in Glamorgan, Somerset, Dorset, Hants, and Surrey, rare ; S.W. Ireland ; 

 fl. July-Aug.— Similar to R. al'ba, but more slender and rootstock elongate. 

 — Distrib. N. Europe, N.E. America. 



6. SCHCENUS, Z. 



Perennial, often leafless, rigid, rush-like herbs. Spikelets in compressed 

 terminal bracteate heads. Glumes subdistichous, rigid, the upper only 

 flower-bearing. Flowers 1-4, 2-sexual. Bristles 1-6. Stamens 3. Style 

 deciduous, base not tumid, stigmas 3. Nut 3-gonous, obtuse or mucronate. 

 — Distrib. Chiefly temp. ; species about 60. — Etym. <jx°~ ivos > from the 

 use of some species as cordage. 



