Mr. C. C. Babington on a new species 0/ Eleocharis. 21 



2. The stigmas are two in all except E. multicaulis, which 

 possesses three. They have not been seen in E. Watsoni, but 

 the lenticular nut renders it nearly certain that they are two in 

 number, 



3. The nut is more or less compressed, but variable in shape, 

 in all except E. multicaulis, in which it is acutely triangular and 

 topshaped. In E. palustris it is roundish, with or without a 

 slight narrowing or stalklike point at the base. In E. uniglumis 

 it is pearshaped. In E. Watsoni it is oblong, but a little nar- 

 rowed at the base. In all of them it is smooth, with the excep- 

 tion of E. Watsoni, where its surface is closely punctate-striate 

 throughout. 



4. The nut is shorter than the hypogynous bristles in E. pa- 

 lustris and E. uniglumis ; equals them: in E. multicaulis ; and ex- 

 ceeds them in E. Watsoni. 



5. The sheath surrounding the base of the stem is transversely 

 truncate, but having a very obtuse point on one side in all except 

 E. multicaulis, where the point is acute. 



It is thus seen that there are very considerable differences 

 between the several plants under consideration, and it is with 

 them alone that E. Watsoni is likely to be confounded, since its 

 genei'ic character separates it from the group Bceothryon. The 

 other European species oi Eleocharis diVe E. ovata and E. atropur- 

 purea, which form the genus Eleogenus of Esenbeck, where the 

 glumes are all equally large and more densely imbricated than in 

 the typical group of species ; and E. carniolica and E. acicularis 

 (to which our plant shows some resemblance in its short bristles), 

 which constitute the genus Scirpidium of Esenbeck, where the 

 bristles are deciduous, not persistent, as in E. Watsoni. The 

 Scirpidia also are trigynous, and their nuts are obovate, much 

 narrowed below and trigonous ; E. acicularis has a ribbed and 

 transversely striated nut, and E. carniolica, which closely re- 

 sembles it in appearance, has short subulate leaves terminating 

 the sheaths. 



It does not seem desirable to extend this paper by discussing 

 the distinctions between E. Watsoni and the North American 

 species of Eleocharis ; let it suffice to state that every endeavour 

 has been made to ascertain if our plant could be identified with 

 any of them, but that none such has been found. 



It is earnestly hoped that Scottish botanists will not long 

 allow this curious plant to continue in the dubious position of a 

 species, founded upon so small a number of specimens as hardly 

 to justify its separation from its allies ; indeed, could it with any 

 probability have been considered as a state of any one of them, 

 this dissertation would not have been written. 



