Sedge Family 65 



ed, persistent or deciduous. Perianth hypogynous, com- 

 posed of bristles or interior scales, rarely calyx-like, or 

 wanting. Stamens 1-3, rarely more ; filaments slen- 

 der or filiform ; anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehis- 

 cent. Ovary 1-celled, sessile or stipitate ; ovule 1, ana- 

 tropous, erect ; style 2-3-cleft or rarely simple or 

 2-toothed. Fruit a lenticular plano-convex or trigonous 

 achene. Endosperm mealy. Embryo minute. 



Flowers perfect. 

 Scales 2-ranked. 



Spikelets flattened ; perianth none. 1. CYPERUS. 



Spikelets scarcely flattened; perianth of 3-6 bristles. \ " 



5. SCHOENUS. 

 Scales spirally imbricated. 



Styles not dilated at base. 2. SCIRPUS. 



Styles dilated at base. 



Spikelets solitary, terminal, bractless. 3. EL.EOCHARIS. 



Spikelets in umbels, involucrate. 4. FIMBRISTYLIS. 



Spikelets polygamous; scales spirally imbricated, only the terminal perfect. 



6. CLADIUM. 

 Flowers monoecious or dioecious ; pistillate enclosed in a sac-like perigynium. 



7. CAREX. 



1. CYPERUS L. GALINGALE. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Stems mostly simple, 

 triangular, leafy near the base and with 1 or more in- 

 volucrate leaves at the base of the simple or compound, 

 umbellate or capitate inflorescence. Rays of the umbel 

 sheathed at the base, usually very unequal. Spikelets 

 flat or nearly terete, composed of few-many persist- 

 ent or deciduous scales, these concave, conduplicate or 

 keeled, 2-ranked, all flower-bearing or the lower empty. 

 Flowers perfect. Perianth none. Stamens 1-3. Styles 

 2-3-cleft, deciduous from the summit of the lenticular 

 or 3-angled achene. 



1. C. diandrus capitatus Britton. Stems tufted, slender, 1-4 

 dm. 'high; leaves about 2 mm. wide, those of the involucre 1-2, 

 elongated ; spikelets sessile in a capitate cluster, appearing some- 



