186 



CYPERACEAE (SEDGE FAMILY) 



1. P. scirpoides Torr. Annual (0.2-3 dm. high), leafy; 

 leaves flat ; spikelets 20-30-flowered ; scales oblong-ovate, acute, 

 chestnut-colored ; achene finely roughened, somewhat margined, 

 beaked with a long sword-shaped almost wholly persistent style. 

 Wet sandy shores and swamps, Mass, and R. I.; n. Ind. 

 y V Aug.-Oct. FIG. 266. 



VI 2. P. nitens (Vahl) Wood. Similar; often be- 



Q | coming 5-7 dm. high ; faces of the achene with 



OUR T> irio strong transverse ribs : tubercle depressed, bro<i<i<T 

 zoo. 1 . scirpoiaes. -5 , 



than high. Wet sandy shores and bogs, L. I. and 267. l*. nitens. 



Del., southw.; n. Ind. Aug.-Oct. FIG. 267. 



7. STENOPHYLLUS Raf. 



Spikelets as in Fimbristylis, the comparatively large scales in few ranks. 



Stamens 2 or 3. Style 2-3-cleft, filiform, glabrous, its base swollen and forming 



a persistent colored tubercle. Otherwise as in Fimbristylis ; standing in the 



same relation to that genus as Eleocharis to Scirpus. Leaves primarily basal, 



narrowly linear or filiform, the sheaths hairy or ciliate. (Name 



, y from <TTv6s, narrow, and (fyu\\ov, leaf.) 



\(Jf 1. S. capillaris (L.) Britton. Low annual, densely tufted 



^NjV (0.3-3 dm. high) ; culms and leaves nearly capillary, the latter 



I short, minutely ciliate ; umbels compound or panicled, loose or 



268. 8. capillaris. compact (in dwarf plant often much reduced) ; spikelets ovoid- 

 oblong, brown to blackish ; stamens 2 ; achene acutely triangular, 

 minutely wrinkled, very blunt. ( Fimbristylis Gray . ) Sandy fields, Me. to Fla. , 

 w. to the Pacific. July-Oct. (Trop. Am.) FIG. 208. 



8. FIMBRISTYLIS Vahl. 



Spikelets several-roany-flowered, terete ; scales all floriferous, regularly imbri- 

 cated in several ranks. Stamens 1-3. Style 2-3-cleft, often with a dilated or 

 tumid base r which is deciduous from the apex of the naked lenticular or trian- 

 gular achene. Otherwise as in Scirpus. Spikelets in our 

 species umbelled, and the involucre 2-3-leaved. (Name com- 

 pounded of fimbria, a fringe, and stylus, style, which is 

 fringed with hairs in the genuine species.) 



* Style 2-cleft ; achene lenticular. 

 -- Spikelets mostly on elongate rays style ciliate. 



1. F. spadicea (L.) Vahl. Perennial, rigid; the thickened 

 base covered with firm dark sheaths culms wiry, 0.3-1 m. 

 high, nearly naked ; leaves pale and firm, 

 involute ; umbel 3-10-rayed, the rays very 

 unequal, some simple, others forking ; 

 spikelets ovoid to short-cylindric, 0.7-1.7 

 cm. long, the firm somewhat lustrous <t<trk 

 scales all glabrous ; stamens 2 < "> ; 

 achene broadly obovate, lustrous, minutely 

 striate and reticulated. Sand-dunes and 

 brackish shores, Va. to Fla. and Tex. 

 Aug.-Oct. (Trop. Am.) FIG. 269. 



2. F. castanea (Michx.) Vahl. Similar; more slender 

 (1.5-7 dm. high) and /m7// xtnlinu'fi-nmti ; /In btimil xhi-tith* 

 xuftrr <ni<! tliitiin-r; the minis and the t/in inl-f<>rni r con- 

 voluti'-<-tinni> />,/ II-IIITS sniiHith nnd somewhat ri-id ; .s-//7v /V/s 

 amid , lli)isi(! ().")-! rni. Inntj, becoming cylindrical, chestnut-cnlnr ; //// wuh'.* 

 suffer a ml f/ii/n/i r, <it Inixt the lower />/it,<r/i/, nt. ( /'. sf><li<-,-<i. var. (Jray.) 

 Salt marshes and sand, along the coast from N. V. to Fla. and Tex.; extending 

 northw. in the interior to Ont., Mich., 111., and Neb. July-Oct. FIG, 270. 



270. F. castanea. 



