274 



CYPERACEAE. 



ii. FUIRENA Rottb. Descr. & Ic. 70. pi. 19. f. 3. 1773. 



Perennial sedges, with leafy triangular culms (in a southern species the leaves reduced 

 to inflated sheaths), and many-flowered terete spikelets in terminal and axillary clusters, or 

 rarely solitary. Scales spirally imbricated all around, awned, the i or 2 lower commonly 

 empty. Flowers perfect. Perianth of 3 ovate oblong or cordate- ovate, stalked, often awned 

 sepals, usually alternating with as many downwardly barbed bristles. Stamens 3. Style 3- 

 cleft, not swollen at the base, deciduous. Achene stalked or nearly sessile, sharply 3-angled, 

 acute or mucronate, smooth. (In honor of Georg Fuiren, 1581-1628, Danish physician.) 



About 20 species, natives of warm-temperate and tropical regions. Besides the following, i or 

 2 others occur in the southern United States. 



Sepals awned from the apex or awnless. 

 Sepals awned on the back below the apex. 



i. Fuirena squarrosa Michx. 



1. F. squarrosa. 



2. F. simplex. 



Squarrose Fuirena. (Fig. 644.) 



Fuirena squarrosa Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 37. 



1803. 

 Fuirena squarrosa var. pumila Torr. Fl. U. S. 



1:68. 1824. 



Rootstock short, stout, sometimes tuber- 

 bearing; culms tufted, glabrous or nearly 

 so, 2'-2 tall. Leaves flat, nearly or quite 

 glabrous or the lower sheaths pubescent; 

 spikelets sessile and i-io together in ter- 

 minal and usually also lateral capitate 

 clusters, ovoid or ovoid-oblong, acute or 

 obtuse, 3 // -6 // long, about 2^ r/ in dia- 

 meter; scales ovate or oblong, brown, 

 pubescent, mostly obtuse, 3-nerved, tipped 

 with a stout spreading or recurved awn of 

 nearly their own length; sepals oblong, 

 long-stalked, usually narrowed at both 

 ends, tapering into a slender terminal 

 downwardly barbed or sometimes smooth 

 awn; bristles mostly longer than the 

 achene, sometimes as long as the sepals. 



In wet meadows and marshes, Massachusetts 

 to Florida and Louisiana, near the coast. Also 

 in Michigan and Nebraska. July-Sept. 

 Fuirena squarrosa hispida (Ell.) Chapm. Fl. S. States, 514. 1860. 

 Fuirena hispida Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. i: 579. 1821. 



Sheaths and leaves hirsute; sepals ovate, cordate at the base or abruptly narrowed into the 

 stalk, awnless or very short -awned at the apex; bristles usually shorter than or equalling the 

 achene; plant usually taller. Xe\v York to Florida, west to Alabama and Texas. Perhaps a dis- 

 tinct species. 



2. Fuirena simplex Vahl. Western 

 Fuirena. (Fig. 645.) 



Fuirena simple* Vahl, Enum. 2: 384. 1806. 

 Fuirena squarrosa var. aristulata Torr. Ann. 

 Lye. N. Y. 3: 291. 1836. 



Similar to the preceding species, root- 

 stock short, thick; culms slender, 5'-2 tall, 

 glabrous. Leaves flat, glabrous or ciliate; 

 scales tipped with a spreading or reflexed 

 awn; sepals ovate-oblong, obtuse and usually 

 notched at the apex, obtuse, truncate or sub- 

 cordate at the base, longer or shorter than 

 their stalks, awned on the back from below 

 the apex, the awn varying in length, smooth 

 or downwardly barbed; bristles retrorsely 

 hispid, equalling or exceeding the sessile or 

 short-stalked achene. 



In moist soil, Kansas to Texas and Mexico. 

 June-Sept. 



