446 CYPERACEJK. [ERIOPHORUM. 



glumes lanceolate with very narrow scarious margins. E. pubes'cens, Sni. 

 Local ; ascends to 1,500 ft. in N. England ; rare in Ireland. 



4. E. grac'ile, Koch ; stems very slender 3-gonous, leaves very narrow 

 3-quetrous throughout channelled, bracts 1-2 small, spikelets 3-6, fruit 

 narrowly obovate-lanceolate obtuse not mucronate. 



Bogs, very rare, Yorkshire, Surrey, Hants ; fl. June-July. A doubtful species 

 somewhat intermediate between polysta'chion and latifo'lium. Stem very 

 slender, 1-2 ft., leaves short, exceedingly narrow ; peduncles seabrid ; 

 heads small ; glumes broad, obtuse, distinctly ribbed, brown, without scari- 

 ous margins ; nut very narrow. DISTRIB. N. and Mid. Europe (Arctic), 

 Siberia, N. America. 



5. RHYNCHO'SPORA, Void. 



Perennial, tufted, leafy sedges. Spikelets terete, in axillary and terminal 

 corymbs or panicles. Glumes imbricate all round the rachis, 1-2 only 

 flower-bearing. Flowers 2-sexual, or the upper 1-sexual. Bristles 6 or more, 

 rarely 0. Style-base tumid, hardened, persistent, stigmas 3. Nut com- 

 pressed or 3-gonous, tipped by a tumid tubercle. DISTRIB. Temp, and 

 trop. ; species about 200. ETYM. pvvxos and airopd, from the beaked 

 fruit. 



1. R. al'ba, Vahl ; spikelets pale 1-fld., bristles many barbed, stamens 

 2, fruit obovoid contracted below equalling the tumid tubercle. 



Spongy bogs and wefc meadows, Shetland to Cornwall and Sussex ; Ireland ; 

 fl. June July. Rootstock short. Stems 6-18 in., very slender, 3-gonous 

 above. Leaves subsetaceons, very narrow, channelled. Corymbs small, ^-| 

 in. diam., terminal and axillary, long peduncled, flat-topped ; bracts leafy. 

 Spikelets ^ in., crowded, white or pale brown. Glumes oblong-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, keeled, membranous. DISTRIB. N. and Mid. Europe (Arctic), 

 Siberia, N. America. 



2, R. fus'ca, R. and S. ; spikelets dark brown, bristles 6 barbed 

 upwards, stamens 3, fruit obovoid equalling the triangular serrulate 

 tubercle. 



Bogs in Glamorgan. Somerset, Dorset, Hants, and Surrey, rare ; S.W. Ireland ; 

 fl. July-Aug. Similar to R. al'ba, but more slender and root-stock elongate. 

 DISTRIB. N. Europe, N.E. America. 



6. SCHCE NUS, L. 



Perennial, often leafless, rigid, rush-like herbs. Spikelets in compressed 

 terminal bracteate heads. Glumes subdistichous, rigid, the upper only 

 flower-bearing. Flowers 1--4, 2-sexual. Bristles 1-6. Stamens 3. Style 

 deciduous, base not tumid, stigmas 3. Nut 3-gonous, obtuse or mucronate. 

 DISTRIB. Chiefly temp. ; species about 60. ETYM. (rx<m/os, from the 

 use of some species as cordage. 



