218 ■ CYrERACE.E, Scirpus. 



Var. OCCidentalis. Scales often pubescent, especially on the niidvein, usually 

 pale with hnu bruwn lines : filaments at length broad and exserted : bristles not ex- 

 serted : nutlet broadly obovate, rounded at the summit, terminating abruptly in a 

 rather short beak. 



The species is wi.lely distributed, uiuler several forms, being foiuid in Europe and Asia, tem- 

 perate and tropii'ui North America, the Sandwich Islands, New Zeahind and Australia. Only the 

 variety is found in California, ranging from San Diego County to Biitish Columbia and eastward 

 to Te.\as and Colorado. In common with the next it is familiarly known under the name of 

 "Tule," occupyi)ig large areas in overlloweil bottom-lands and marshy jjlaces throughout the 

 State. It is sometimes 8 to 12 feet high and an inch or more in diameter at base. The eastern 

 form (S. validiis, Vahl), of the Atlantic States (from Lake Winnipeg to Florida) and the West 

 Indies, has rather smaller and broader spikelets, shorter and narrower filaments, bristles at length 

 exserted, and a narrower nutlet somewhat attenuateil at top. 



5. S. Tatora, Kunth. Very closely resembling the last, but readily distin- 

 guished by the bristles of the perianth, which are 2 to 4, very dark brown, stout or 

 somewhat flattened and retrorsely plumose M'ith short curved hairs, shorter than the 

 nutlet : scales brown, not pubescent : lilaments broad, rarely exceeding the nutlet, 

 which is narrowly obovate, shortly attenuate into the stout beak. — Enum, ii. IGG. 

 El i/trospermuvi (UiJifornicum, C. A. Meyer, Cyp. Nov. 7, t. 2. S. ripariits, Pre.sl, 

 ]vei. llaink. i. ID;), not Sprong. Malachochate rijHiria, Noes <S: Meycn ; Gay, Fl. 

 ('hil. vi. 170, t. 7. A'. pscndofrifjiKli'i; Steud. ("yp. 8G. 



From tlie Sacramento Valley to Me.\ico and eastward to Louisiana ; also in South America from 

 Peru and Chili to Brazil. 



-1- -i- Stein acutely triangular or triquetrous. 



++ Stem leajiess or with a single short leaf at base: involiicral bract stout and 



triangular. 



6. S. Olneyi, Gray. Stem stout, 2 to 7 feet high, from a stout running root- 

 stock, more or less deeply triquetrous or Aving-angled, continued as involucre an inch 

 or less beyond the inHorescence: spikelets 2 to 12 in a crowded sessile cluster, 

 oV)long-ovate, acute or rather obtuse, 2 to G lines long, usually short : scales thin, 

 brown, broad and obtuse, glabrous or slightly ciliate : anthers shortly acute : bristles 

 4 or 6, rather shorter than the narrowly obovate plano-convex prominently beaked 

 nutlet: style 2-cleft. — PI. Lindh. 30. >S'. pungens, Benth. PI. llartw. 27. ^S". tri- 

 queter (?), Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 153. 



From San Francisco (/?/{7c/oj(') to San Diego and across the continent ; Mexico, Grcgij, Ilarlireg. 



•H- -i-t- Stem sonnucJiat leafg: leaves ohversclg flattened, cJiannellcd : involucral 

 bract more slender and channelled. 



7. S. pungens, Vahl. Stem usually slender, 1 to 4 feet high, acutely triangu- 

 lar : leaves 1 to 4, shorter than the st(!m ; the more or less channelled bract 1 to 4 

 inches long : spikelets 1 to G, closely crowded, ovate to ovate-oblong : scales brown, 

 often very dark, broadly ovate, emarginate and usually consjiicuously tipjjcd with a 

 straight awn : anthers narrowly acuminate : bristles 2 to G, shorter than the obovate 

 plano-convex pnuninently beaked nutlet, which is somewhat narrowed at base, 

 nearly 1 .V lines long: style 2- rarely 3-cleft. — lioeck. 1. c. 708. S. badius, Presl, 

 Pel. llAiuk. i. 193. S. Rothii, Iloppe ; Reichenb. 1. c, t. 30-1. 



Less frequent than the preceding in California, though common in the Atlantic States : Arroyo 

 del Twevio {Brewer); Monterey, near the avii {/facidc, Bir.urr); Mono Lake and the (Jreat Salt 

 Lake, and southwanl into Mexico ; also in South America and the West Indies, in Australia, and 

 the western Jlediterranean region. 



* * Involucre follaceous, spreading : stems triangular, leaf g at base : leaves flat. 



-)— Spikelets large, few, in a sessile cluster or sparingly umbellate, rufous. 



8. S. maritimus, Linn. Stems stout, 1 to 3 feet high, from running often 

 tuberiferous rootstocks : leaves equalling or exceeding the stem ; involucral bracts 



