34 TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA, 



Species. 1. S. -fetaceus. 2. hispiduhis. o.efftisus. Thlsrfe-' 

 markable grass, discovered in the West India islands by 

 Swartz, extends a considerable distance northward beyond 

 Wilmington, (North Carolina) often almost exclusively oc- 

 cupying considerable ponds. The leaves are almost as 

 sharply serrate as those of a BromeUa, and hence it is very 

 properly called saiv-grass. The genuine species of this ge- 

 nus are principally confined to Europe and northerh Afri- 

 ca (Barbary). Of the liJwnchospora there are many species 

 at the Cape of Good Hope as well as in North America 

 and the West India islands; scarcely more than 1 or 2 

 distinct species in Europe, none in the East Indies, Aus- 

 tralia, Northern Asia, and Northern Africa. 



51. MARISCUS. Vahl. 



Spikelets few-flowered, almost imbricately 

 aggregated in roundish or subcylindric lieads. 

 — Common calix of the spikelets £-valved, (3 

 to 6, or 8-flowered). Flowers 1-valved, sub- 

 imbricate. Style trifid. Seed triquetrous. 



Culm triquetrous, leafy at the base, terminating in an In- 

 volucrate umbell; capitulum, ovate, roundish, or cylindric, 

 composed of aggregated compressed or subcylindric spi- 

 cuU, from 3 to 8-iiowered, the spikelets generall}' squar- 

 rose or reflected when in fruit. The involucellate fila- 

 ments appear to be wanting. This genus, confined to 

 America, seems to be very nearly allied to CyperuSy dif- 

 fenng principally in habit. 



Species. 1. *fX retrofractus.2- ci/Undric2is. 3. echiiiafU^* 

 4. umbellatus. 



52. CYPERUS. Lin, (Cyprus-grass.) 

 Spikelets compressed, distijict. Calix scales 



imbricated in two rows. Corolla 0, Stigmata 

 mostly 3. Seed 1, naked. (Stamina 2, and 3.) 



Ciilm usually triquetrous, rarely terete, terminating in 

 an involucrate umbell; spikes many -flowered, distinct, 

 fasciculate, and generally pedunculate. The lower calix 

 scales are sometimes empty or sterile. The roots of 

 some of the species possess an aromatic odour, (particu- 

 larly the C. longva.) and a few others produce tubers at 

 their extremities, said to be esculent. From the integu- 

 men;s of the C'.P<i/'^?-t/s of Egypt the ancients first obtain- 

 ed a convenient substitute for' skins, to write upon, since 



