5G6 CYPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 



wool rustj/ or coppcr<oior, only thrice the length of the scale; stamen 1. — Bogs 

 and low meadows : common. July, Aug. 



Var. Album, with the wool white. — Oswego and Jefferson Counties, New 

 York, Dr. Cmwf, A. II. Cii,!iss. 



4. E. polystachyon, h. Culm rigid (1°- 2° high), obscurely triangu- 

 lar; Ifdrcn limiir,Jiat, orlidn/i/ chuiinellal bdow, triangular at the point ; iinohicre 

 2 - 3-k(iced ; spikes several (4-12), on nodding peduncles, some of them elon- 

 gated in fruit; acheninm ohovate; irool a7i(/e, very str.dght (1' long or more). 



— Var. angustifOlium (E. angustifulium, /?o//i, and of European botanists, 

 not of American, and the original E. polystachyon of A.) has smooth pcduiules. 



— Var. LATiFOLiUM (E. latifolium, Ilujipe, & E. polystachyon, Toir.,) has 

 rough peduncles, and sometimes broader and flatter leaves. — Both are common 

 in bogs, northward ; often with the peduncles obscurely scabrous, indicating 

 that the species should be left as Linnaius founded it. June, July. (Eu.) 



5. E. gracile, Koch. Culm slender (l°-2° high), rather triangular; 

 leaves slender, diannelled-triantjidar, rough on the angles ; involucre short uud scale- 

 like, innsllij \4mced ; peduncles rough or roughish-pubescent; achcnium ellipti- 

 cal-linear. (E. triijuetrum, Iloppe. E. angustifolium, Torr.) — Cold bogs, 

 New England to Illinois, and northward. June -Aug. — Spikes 3-7, small, 

 when mature the copious white wool 6" -9" long. Scales brownish, several- 

 nerved; or in our plant, var. rAUCiXERVicM, Engelm., mostly light chestnut- 

 color, and about 3-nerved. (Eu.) 



10. FIMBRISTYLIS, Vahl. (PI. 3.) 



Spikes several - many-flowered, terete ; the scales all florifcrous, regularly im- 

 bricated in several ranks. Perianth (bristles, ie ) none. Stamens 1-3. Style 

 2-3-cleft, often with a dilated or tumid base, which is deciduous (except in No. 

 4) from the apex of the naked lenticular or triangular achenium. Otherwise as 

 in Scirpus. — Culms leafy at the base. Spikes in our species umbelled, and the 

 involucre 2-3-leaved. (Name compounded of Jimbria, a fringe, and sti/lus, tho 

 style, which is fringed with hairs in the genuine species.) 

 § 1. FIMBRISTYLIS proper. Siijle 2-cleft,Jlat and ciliate, falling awmj, base 



and all, from the lenticular achenium ; scalis of the mani/Jtoivered spike closely 



imbricated. 



1. P. spadicea, Vahl., var. castanea. Culms (10-2^° high) tufted 



from a perennial root, riipd, as are the threudform convohite-channdled leaves, 

 smooth ; spikes ovate-oblong becoming cylindrical, dark chestnut-color (2" 

 thick) ; stamens 2 or 3 ; achenium veri/ minuteli/ striate and obscureli/ reticulated. 

 (F. castanea, cylindrica, &c., Vahl.) — Salt marshes along the coast, New York 

 to Virginia, and southward. July -Sept. — Spikes less dark-colored and scales 

 mostly thinner thiin in the original Jamaica plant. 



2. P. laxa, Vahl. Culms slender (2'- 12' high) from an ('»»!(«/ ^■oo^ H-ertt, 

 grooved and flatfish ; leaves linear, fat, ciliate-dcnticulate, yhiiicous, sometimes 

 hairy ; spikes ovate, acute (3'' long) ; stamen 1 ; achenium co:iSi>icuously 6 - S-ribbed 

 on each side, and with finer cross lines. (F. Haldwiniana, Ton-. F. brizo~ides, 

 Nees, &,c.) — Low, mostly clayey soil, Penn. to Illinois and southward. July- 

 Sept. — Scales broader and less pointed than in F. annua. 



