SCIRPUS.] CYPERACE^. 445 



Leaves short, channelled. Spikes - in., chestnut-brown. Spikelets few, 

 short. Bristles short, rough, very deciduous. Fruit brown. DISTRIB. 

 N.W. Europe (Arctic), N. Asia, Himalaya. 



4. ERIOPH'ORUM, L. COTTON-GRASS. 



Perennial, tufted herbs. Spikelete terminal or lateral, solitary or cymose, 

 terete. Glumes imbricate all round the rachis, all but 2-3 lowest flower- 

 bearing. Flowers 2-sexual. Bristles 4-6 or very many, capillary, flat, at 

 length greatly exceeding the spikelets. Stamens 1-3. Style deciduous, 

 base not tumid, stigmas 2-3. Nut 3-gonous or compressed. DISTRIB. 

 N. temp, and Arctic regions ; species about 12. ETYM, epiov and <f>opd, from 

 the cottony heads. 



* Spikelet solitary, terminal, ebracteate. 



1. E. vagina' turn, L. ; stems glabrous, leaves filiform 3-quetrous, spike- 

 let ovoid many-fld., bristles very many. 



Boggy moors, Shetland to Sussex and Cornwall ; ascends to near 3,000 ft. in 

 the Highlands ; Ireland ; fl. April-May. Rootstock short. Steins many, 

 tufted, 6-10 in., longer in fruit, terete below, 3-gonous above, with 1-2 

 inflated leafless sheaths above the middle. Leaves very short. Spikelet 

 f-1 in., erect. Glumes hyaline, broadly ovate, olive-green. Nut obovoid, 

 obtuse, mucronate, compressed. DISTRIB. N. and Mid. Europe (Arctic), 

 N. and W. Asia, N.W. Tibet, N. America. 



2. E. alpi'num, L. ; stems rough 3-gonous, leaves setaceous, spikelet 

 narrow-oblong few-fld., bristles 4-6 crumpled. 



Spongy bogs, Forfar (extinct); fl. June. Rootstock creeping, producing a 

 series of stems and leaves. Stems 6-10 in., very slender, rigid. Leaves 

 short, rough, channelled, keeled. Spikes J in., erect, oblong-lanceolate. 

 Glumes yellow-brown. Nut minute, obovoid, trigonous. DISTRTB. Arctic 

 and Alpine Europe, N. Asia, N. America. 



** Spikelets in lateral corytnbiform cymes, drooping, bracteate. 



3. E. polysta'chion, L. ; stems rigid obtusely 3-gonous, leaves smooth 

 flat, tip 3-gonous, bracts 2 T 3, spikelets 4-12, nut obovoid mucronate. 



Bogs, Shetland to Cornwall and Sussex ; ascends to near 3,500 ft. in the 

 Highlands; Ireland; Channel Islands; fl. May- June. Rootstock stout. 

 Stems 6-18 in., stout or slender, smooth, leafy. Leaves chiefly radical, 

 variable in breadth. Heads rarely solitary, very variable in number, size, 

 and length of peduncles. Glumes -J in., lead-coloured, oblong- or ovate- 

 lanceolate, membranous. Bristles when fully grown 1^-2 in. DISTRIB. 

 Europe (Arctic) (excl. Greece), N. Asia, N. America. 



E. POLYSTA'CHION proper ; rootstock long, stems not tufted solid, leaves 

 channelled 3-gonous above the middle, branches of cyme smooth, glumes 

 ovate, margins broad scarious. E. angustifo'lium, Roth. ; E. grac'ile, Sm., 

 not Koch. 



Sub-sp. E. LATIFO'LIUM, Hoppe ; rootstock short, stems tnf ted slender trique- 

 trous hollow, leaves flat tip short 3-gonous, branches of cyme scaberulous. 



