SEDGE FAMILY. 



8. Rynchospora axillaris (L,am.) Brit- 

 ton. Capitate Beaked-rush. (Fig. 655.) 



Si /menus axillaris Lam. Tabl. Kncycl. i : 137. 179!. 

 Rlnncliosftora ccphalantha A. Gray Ann I vc N 



V. 3: 218. 1835. 



Rln'nchospora axillaris Britton, Bull. Torr Club 

 15: 104. 1888. 



Culms stout, 3-angled, 2-4 tall. Leaves 

 flat, keeled, \"-\ft" wide; spikelets spindle- 

 shaped, 2X // -3 // long, exceedingly numerous, 

 in several short-peduncled axillary and terminal 

 very dense globose heads sometimes 10" in di- 

 ameter; scales dark brown, ovate-oblong, acute; 

 bristles usually 6, longer than or equalling the 

 achene and tubercle, downwardly or upward! v 

 barbed; achene broadly obovate, brown, smooth, 

 lenticular; tubercle subulate, about as long as 

 the achene, somewhat decurrent on its edges. 



In swamps, Long Island to Florida and I.c.uisi 

 ana. near the coast. July- Sept. 



279 



Rynchospora axillaris microcephala Hritton, Trans. X. V. Acad. Sci. 11:89. 

 is only 4" -5" in diameter; spikelets i <^" long; achene one-half as Urge w 



Heads only 4 

 New Jersey to Florida and Louisiana. 



half as large as that of the tjrpc. 



9. Rynchospora fusca < L.) R. & S. Brown 



Beaked-rush. (Fig. 656.) 



Scliofiuts /'UM -A I.. Sp. IM Hd. 2. 1664. 176*. 

 Rhynchosporafnsca K x - -. |gJ 7 . 



Rootstocks short, culms slender, 3-angIed, nooth. 

 tufted, 6 / -i3 / tall. Leaves setaceous, channeled. 

 scarcely |" wide, much shorter than the calm; 

 spikelets spindle-shaped, acute, about -'." long, 

 several, or rather numerous, in 1-4 loose cloter; 

 scales oblong-lanceolate, brown, shining, concave; 

 bristles 6, upwardly barbed, often unequal, the longer 

 ones usually exceeding the achene and tubercle; 

 achene narrowly obovate, turgid-lenticular, smooth. 

 shining; tubercle triangular-subulate, nearly a* long 

 as the achene, its margins serrulatt or nearly Booth. 



In bogs, New Hrun-wiik t<. Delaware, wwt alone the 

 St. Lawrence and (ireat I.- 

 Europe. July-Aug. 



10. Rynchospora gracilenta A. Gray. 

 Slender Beaked-rush. (Fig. 657.) 



Rhvnchospora gracilenla A. Gray, Ann. Lye. N. V. 3 

 216. 1835. 



Culms very slender or filiform, smooth, obtusely 

 triangular, i-2 tall. Leaves flat or becoming invo- 

 lute in drying, rather less than i" wide, elongated 

 but shorter than the culm; spikelets narrowly ovoid, 

 acute, 2" long, few, in 1-4 loose clusters, the lower 

 clusters borne on filiform stalks; scales ovate, brown, 

 mucronate; bristles 6, upwardly barbed, equalling the 

 achene and tubercle; acheue broadly oval or nearly 

 orbicular, dark brown, lenticular, dull, smooth; tu- 

 bercle narrowly subulate, flat, widened at the base, 

 pale, about as long as the achene. 



In pine barren swamps. New Jersey to Florida and 

 Texas, near the coast. June-Aug. 



