SEDGE FAMILY. _ 



2. Rynchospora pallida M. A. Curtis. Pale Beaked-ruah. (Fig. 649.) 



Rhynchospora pallida M. A. Curtis, Am. Journ Sci ( II ) 

 7: 409. 1849. 



Rootstocks slender, culms sharply triangular, i#- 

 2 l / 2 tall. Leaves l / 2 "-\" wide, flattish, nearly 

 smooth, the lowest reduced to many-nerved lanceo- 

 late acuminate scales; spikclets numerous, spindle- 

 shaped, narrow, 2 // ~3" long, aggregated in a com- 

 pound convex terminal head, or occasionally also in 

 a filiform-stalked cluster from the upper axil; upper- 

 most leaves subulate, little exceeding the spikelets; 

 scales pale .greenish brown, lanceolate, acuminate; 

 bristles minute and early deciduous, or wanting; 

 style 2-cleft; achene lenticular, obovate-oblong, 

 smooth, brown, somewhat shining, y 2 " long, tipped 

 by a short tubercle. 



In pine barren bogs, New Jersey to North Carolina 

 Aug.-Sept. 



3. Rynchospora oligantha A. Gray. Few-flowered Beaked-rush, f Fig. 650.) 



Rlivnchospora oliganlha A. Gray, Ann 1. 



212. 1835. 



Rootstocks short, culms tufted, almost thread-Uk*. 

 leafy only toward the base, 6'-l6 / tall. Leave* ill* 

 form, resembling and shorter than the calm or SOSB*> 

 times equalling it; spikelets 1-4, terminal, narrowly 

 oblong, acute, 3"-4" long, sessile or pednnckd, at- 

 tended by i or 2 filiform bracts; scale* orate, pal* 

 brown, acute, cuspidate; bristles usually 6. densely 

 plumose below the middle, upwardly scabrous above. 

 equalling or shorter than the achene; style 1-cIeA; 

 achene obovoid-oblong, obtuse, turgid- lenticular. 

 pale brown, dull, transversely wrinkled; tubercle 

 with a flat depressed border and a flattened cook 

 acute central projection about one-fifth as loaf at 

 achene. 



In wet sandy soil. Delaware to Florida and Trxas, 



near the coast. June -Aug. 



4. Rynchospora alba < L. ) Vahl. White Beaked-rush 



Schoenus albus L,. Sp. PI. 44. 1753. 

 Kynchospora alba Vahl, Enum. 2: 236. 1806. 



Pale green, rootstocks short, culms slender or 

 almost filiform, glabrous, 6 / -2o / tall. Leaves bris- 

 tle-like, W-Yz" wide, shorter than the culm, the 

 lower very short; spikelets several or numerous, in 

 1-4 dense corymbose terminal and axillary clusters, 

 narrowly oblong, acute at both ends, 2 // -3 // long; 

 scales ovate or ovate-lanceolate, white, acute; bris- 

 tles 9-15, downwardly barbed, slender, about as 

 long as the achene and tubercle; style 2-cleft; 

 achene obovate-oblong, smooth, pale brown, lentic- 

 ular; tubercle triangular-subulate, flat, one-half as 

 long as the achene. 



In bogs, Newfoundland to Alaska, south to Fl- 

 Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon. Also in north' 

 Europe and Asia. June-Aug. 



