SEDGE FAMILY. 



13. Eleocharis tortilis (Link) Schultes. 



Scirpus tortilis Link, Jahrb. 3: 78. 1820. 

 Eleocharis tortilis Schultes, Mant. 2: 92. 1824. 



Twisted Spike rush 



IA 





Annual, roots fibrous, culms tufted, filiform, sharply 

 3-angled, pale green, erect or reclining, twisting when 

 old, i-i^4 long. Sheaths obliquely truncate, i- 

 toothed; spikelet ovoid or oblong, subacute, several- 

 flowered, 2 // -3 // long, about i" thick, much thicker 

 than the culm; scales firm, pale, ovate, mostly obtuse; 

 bristles 4-6, rigid, retrorsely barbed, about equalling 

 the achene and tubercle; stamens 3; style 3-cleft; 

 achene obovoid, obscurely 3-angled, strongly reticu- 

 lated, longitudinally about i8-ribbed; tubercle cap-like 

 or conic, truncate at the base, one-fourth to one-half 

 as long as the achene. 



In wet soil, Delaware to Florida and Texas, near the 

 coast. July-Sept. 



14. Eleocharis tuberculosa (Michx.) R. & S. 



(Fig. 590.) 



Large-tubercled Spike-rath. 



\ 



Scirpus luberculosus Michx. PI. Bor. Am. I: ja, 1803. 



Eleocharis tuberculosa R. K ^ 1817. 



Annual, culms tufted, slightly ffiqipfCMCd. very 

 slender, rather stiff, striate, bright green, V-i* tall. 

 Upper sheath obliquely truncate or I -toothed; (pike- 

 let ovoid, obtuse or subacute, many-flowered, j"-6" 

 long, nearly 2" in diameter; scale* broadly ovate, ob- 

 tuse, pale greenish-brown with a darker midveio. 

 broadly scarious-tnargined, firm, tardily dccidooot; 

 bristles 6, rigid, downwardly or rarely upwardly 

 barbed, about as long as the achene and tubercle; 

 stamens 3; style 3-cleft; achene obovoid, pale, trigon- 

 ous, strongly reticulated, longitudinally about 18- 

 ribbed; tubercle cap-like or conic, nearly or quite a* 

 large as the achene. 



In wet soil, Massachusetts to Florida and Texa*. near 

 the coast. July-Sept. 



15. Eleocharis microcarpa Torn Small-fruited Spike-rush. (Fig. 591.) 



Eleocharis microcarpa Torr. Ann. Lye. X. Y. 3: 312. 



1836. 

 Eleocharis Torreyana Boeckl. Linnaea, 36: 440. 1870. 



Annual, culms finely filiform, densely tufted, some- 

 what 4-sided, erect or reclining, often proliferous by 

 developing secondary culms in the axils of the spike- 

 let, sometimes rooting at the summit, 2'-8' long. 

 Upper sheath obliquely truncate; spikelet oblong, 

 subacute, terete or nearly so, much thicker than the 

 culm, many-flowered, i^'-a^" long; scales ovate, 

 acute, brownish-red with a green midvein and lighter 

 margins, early deciduous except the lowest which is 

 commonly larger than the others, persistent and 

 bract-like; bristles 3-6, slender, shorter than or 

 equalling the achene; stamens 3; style 3-cleft; achene 

 white, 3-angled, obovoid, smooth, minute; tubercle 

 couic-pyramidal, much shorter than the achene. 



In wet sandy soil, southern New Jersey to Florida and Texas, mortly near t 

 Cuba. June-Aug. 



' 



