CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 587 



2. S. oligantha, Ell. Culms slender, 2 high, the angles somewhat 

 winged; leaves linear (2" wide), smooth except the scabrous apex; lateral fas- 

 cicles 1 or 2, usually on long exserted peduncles ; achene ovate, on a tuberculate 

 disk. Va. to Fla. and Tex. 



* * Achene papillose or warty. 



3. S. paucifldra, Muhl. Smoothish or hairy ; culm slender (9 - 24' high);, 

 leaves narrowly linear ; fascicles few-flowered, the lateral pedunculate, sessile, 

 or wanting ; bracts ciliate ; achene globose-ovate ; the disk a narrow ring 

 bearing 3 pairs of minute tubercles. N. H. to Ohio, south to Fla. and Tex. 



* * * Achene reticulated or wrinkled. 



4. S. reticularis, Michx. (PI. 5, fig. 6-10.) Culms slender, erect, 

 scabrous (1 -2- high) ; leaves linear (1 - 1-J" wide), smooth ; lateral fascicles 

 1-3, loose, remote, nearly erect, on short often included peduncles ; bracts gla- 

 brous ; achene globose, regularly reticulated and pitted, not hairy, resting upon 

 a double greenish conspicuously 3-lobed disk, the inner appressed to and de- 

 ciduous with the achene. E. Mass, to Fla. Var. PUBESCENS, Britton. Edges 

 of reticulations more or less hairy, especially toward the apex ; lateral fascicles 

 generally on longer peduncles. Pine-barrens of N. J. to Fla. Var. OBSctiRA, 

 Britton. Achene bony, its surface with very obscure reticulations, nearly 

 smooth at the summit. R. I. and N. C. 



5. S. Torreyana, Walpers. Culms weak, diffuse, slightly scabrous or 

 smooth; leaves linear (2-4" wide), smooth; lateral fascicles loose, on more or 

 less elongated and drooping Jiliform peduncles ; achene irregularly pitted-reticu- 

 lated or pitted-rugose with the ridges somewhat spirally arranged and more or 

 less hairij (sometimes smooth); otherwise as in the last. (S. laxa, Torr.) 

 Pine-barrens, N. J. to Fla. and Tex. 



6. S. verticillata, Muhl. Smooth ; culms simple, slender (4 - 24' high) ; 

 leaves narrowly linear ; fascicles 3 - 9-flowered, 4-6, sessile in an interrupted 

 spikelet; achene globose ($" broad), somewhat triangular at base, rough- 

 wrinkled with short elevated ridges ; disk obsolete. E. Mass, to Ont., Minn., 

 and south to the Gulf. 



16. CAR- EX, Ruppius. SEDGE. (By L. H. BAILEY.) 



Flowers unisexual, destitute of floral envelopes, disposed in spikes; the 

 staminate consisting of three stamens, in the axil of a bract, or scale ; the 

 pistillate comprising a single pistil with a bifid or trifid style, forming in fruit 

 a hard lenticular or triangular achene, which is enclosed in a sac (perigynium) 

 formed by the complete union of the borders of a bractlet or of connate bract- 

 lets and borne in the axil of a bract, or scale. Staminate and pistillate flow- 

 ers borne in different parts of the spike (spike androgynous], or in separate 

 spikes on the same culm, or rarely the plant dioecious. Perennial grass-like 

 herbs with mostly triangular culms, 3-ranked leaves, usually with rough mar- 

 gins and keel, and spikes in the axils of leafy or scale-like bracts, often aggre- 

 gated into heads. An exceedingly critical genus, the study of which should 

 be attempted only with complete and fully mature specimens. (The classical 

 Latin name, of obscure signification ; derived by some from Keipea, to cut, on ac- 

 count of the sharp leaves as the English name Shear-grass.) (PI. 5 and 6.) 



