548 XYRIDACE^. (YELLOW-EYED-GRASS FAMILY). 



1 -nerved, pellucid, entire, notched at the apex : the peduncle solitary, sheathed 

 at the base. (An aboriginal name.) 



1. M. Michauxii, Schott & Endl. Peduncles not much exceeding the 

 leaves, nodding in fruit ; petals white. (Syena fluviatilis, Pursh.) S. E. Vir- 

 ginia, and southward. July. 



2. XYRIS, L. YELLOW-EYED GRASS. 



Flowers single in the axils of coriaceous scale-like bracts, which are densely 

 imbricated in a head. Sepals 3 ; the 2 lateral glume-like, boat-shaped or keeled 

 and persistent ; the anterior one larger and membranaceous, enwrapping the 

 corolla in the bud and deciduous with it. Petals 3, with claws, which cohere 

 more or less. Fertile stamens 3, with linear anthers, inserted on the claws of 

 the petals, alternating with 3 sterile filaments, which are cleft and in our species 

 plumose or bearded at their apex. Style 3-cleft. Pod oblong, free, 1 -celled, 

 with 3 parietal more or less projecting placentae, 3-valved, many-seeded. Flow- 

 ers yellow, produced all summer. Ours apparently all perennials. (Svpis, an 

 ancient name of some plant with 2-edged leaves, from vpov, a razor.) 



1 . X. flexudsa, Muhl., Chapm. Scape slender (10' - 16' high), barely flat- 

 tened at the summit, often from a bulbous base, very smooth, much longer than 

 the narrowly linear leaves, both commonly twisted with age ; head roundish- 

 ovoid (3" -4" long); lateral sepals oblong-lanceolate, finely ciliate-scarious on the 

 narrow wingless keel, and usually with a minute bearded tuft at the very apex, 

 shorter than the bract. (X. Jupacai, Michx. in part. X. Indica, Pursh. X. 

 bulbosa, Kunth, & Ed. 2.) Sandy or peaty bogs, from E. Massachusetts south- 

 ward near the coast ; also Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. 



Var. pusilla. Small and very slender, seldom twisted, 2' -9' high, the 

 base not bulbous. (X. brevifolia, Muhl., in part, &c., not of Michx.) From 

 New Jersey and Pennsylvania northward to the base of the White Mountains 

 and Lake Superior. Head 2" -3" long. 



2. X. t6rta, Smith. Scape terete, with one sharp edge, slender, 9' - 20' high, 

 from a bulbous base, and with the linear-filiform rigid leaves becoming spirally 

 twisted; head ovoid becoming spindle-shaped and acute (5" -9" long); sepals 

 exceeding the bract ; lateral sepals winged on the keel and fringed above the middle. 

 Pine barrens of New Jersey (near Batsto, D. C. Eaton) and in the Southern 

 States : in dry sand. 



3. X. Caroliniana, Walt. Scape flattish, 1-angled below, 2-edged at the 

 summit, smooth, l-2 high, the base hardly bulbous; leaves linear-sword-shaped, 

 flat; head globular-ovoid (5''-7" long) ; lateral sepals obscurely laccrate-f ringed 

 above on the winged keel, rather shorter than the bract. (X. Jupacai, partly, 

 Michx. X. anceps, Muhl.) Sandy swamps, &c., Rhode Island to Virginia and 

 southward, near the coast. 



4. X. fimbriata, Ell. Scape somewhat angled, 2-edged above, rough 

 (2 high), rather longer than the linear-sword-shaped or strap-shaped leaves, 

 the base not bulbous ; head oblong (6" -10" long); lateral sepals lanceolate-lin- 

 ear, nearly twice the length of the bract, above the middle conspicuously fringed on the 

 wing-margined keel, and even plumose at the summit. Pine barrens of New Jersey 

 to Virginia, and southward. 



