496 CTPERACE^E, (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



sitrnwunted by a Jlattish cap-shaped tubercle as large as it self. Wet sandy places 

 Massachusetts, along the coast, to Virginia and southward. 



$ 2. ELE6CHARIS PROPER. Scales of the terete seveml- many -flowered spike 

 membranaceous, and with a midrib or nerve, imbricated in more than three ranks. 



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



many-flowered: culins rather slender, spongy. (ELEOGENUS, NCOS.) 



4. E. ol>tll$a, Schultes. Culms nearly terete, tufted (8' -14' high) from 

 fibrous roots; spike globose-ovoid and with age oblong, olttiise (dull brown); the 

 scales very obtuse and numerous (80130), densely crowded in many ranks ; stifle 3- 

 ( rarely 2-) clejl ; achenium 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. oli vftccsi. Torr. Culms flattish, grooved, diffusely tufted on slcn 

 der matted rootstocks (2' -4' high); spike ovate, acutish, 20 - 30-Jlowered ; scales 

 ovate, 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 const, and southward. 



6. E. paliistris, Jl. Brown. Culms nearly terete, striate (1- 2 high), 

 from running rootstocks; spike oblong -lanceolate, pointed, matnj-flowerrd ; scales 

 ovate-ol>long , 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. glaucescens, Wild.!) : culms slender or fili- 

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

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

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

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

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



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



gether wanting. (SciRP/DlUM, Nees, nciirly.) 

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



ranks, brownish or purplish with scarious wfiittsft margins, \-nci r,J. 

 -* I>ri*ll<s 4-6, longer than the achenium, stout and bearded rfovntoerra. 



7. E. rostellalil, Torr. Culms flattened and str'uttc-grixn'id, if fry, eiect 

 (l-2 high), the sheath transversely truncate; spike oroiil-lannolatc, acute, 12- 

 20-Jlowered; scales ovate, obtuse, rather rigid (light brown) ; achenium smooth, 

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

 overtopped by the 4-6 bristles. Marshes, Rhode Island (Olncy), l\ un Van, 

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



8. E. intermedia, Sniu-tcs. Culms capillary, wiry, striate-groovcd, 

 densely tufted from fibrous roots, diffusely fpreuding or reclining (6' -12' long) ; 

 tpike oblong-ovate, acutish, loosely \Q-\K-flowered (2" -3" long); scales oblong, 



, green-keeled, the sides purplish-brown; achenium smooth, obovoid with 



