CYPERACEJE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 557 



1. H. SUbsqiiarrbsa, Nees. Dwarf or minute annual (l'-5' high); 

 involucre 1-leaved, as if a continuation of the bristle-like culm, and usually with 

 another minute leaf; spikes 2-3 (barely 2" long) ; scales brown, tipped with a 

 short recurved point. (Scirpus subsquarrosus, Muhl.) Sandy borders of 

 ponds and rivers; often growing with Cyperus inflexus. July -Sept. Var. 

 DRUMMONDII (H. Drummondii, Nees.) is a form with single and paler or green- 

 ish heads : Illinois and southward. 



7. ELEOCHARIS, R. Br. SPIKE-RUSH. (PL 3.) 



Spike single, terminating the naked culm, many - several-flowered. Scales 

 imbricated all round in many (rarely in 2 or 3) ranks. Perianth of 3 - 12 (com- 

 monly 6) bristles, usually rough or barbed downwards, rarely obsolete. Sta- 

 mens 3. Style 2-3-cleft, its bulbous base persistent as a tubercle, which is 

 jointed with the apex of the lenticular or triangular achenium. Leafless, 

 chiefly perennial, with tufted culms sheathed at the base, from matted or creep- 

 ing rootstocks : flowering in summer. (Name from e Aos, a marsh, and ^atpo^ 

 to delight in; being marsh plants.) 



1. Spike terete, hardly if at all thicker than the spongy -cell-alar culm; the scales- 

 firmly persistent: style mostly 3-clefl : bristles of the perianth 6 (rarely 1),firm 

 or rigid, mostly barbed downwardly, and equalling or surpassing the triangular or 

 double convex achenium. 



* Spike linear or lanceolate-awl-shaped, few-flowered; the scales (only 3 - 9) few- 



ranked, convolute-clasping the long flattened joints of the axis, lanceolate^ herba- 

 ceous (green) and several-nerved on the back, and with thin scarious margins, 



1. E. Bobbins!!, Oakes. Flower-bearing culms exactly triangular, rather 

 stout, erect (8' -2 high), also producing tufts of capillary abortive stems or 

 fine leaves, which float in the water ; sheath obliquely truncate ; achenium ob- 

 long-obovate, triangular, minutely reticulated, about half the length of the 

 bristles, tipped with a flattened awl-shaped tubercle. Shallow water, from 

 Pondicherry Pond, New Hampshire (Robbins), to New Jersey ( C. E. Smith f 

 &c.), and southward. Spike varying from 4" to 10'' long, by. scarcely over a 

 line wide ; the long scales rather remote and sheath-like. 



* * Spike cylindrical and many-flowered, l'-2' long ; the scales regularly imbricated 



in several ranks, firm-coriaceous with a narrow scarious margin end no midrib, 

 pale, nerveless or faintly striate : culms large and stout (2 -4 high) : sheaths at 

 the base often leaf-bearing. (LIMNOCHLOA, Nees.) 



2. E. equisetoid.es, Torr. Culm terete, hiotted as if jointed 6y many cross 

 partitions ; achenium smooth, with a conical-beaked tubercle. Shallow water, 

 Rhode Island (Olney), Michigan (Houghton), Delaware, and southward, 



3. E. quadrangulata, R. Br. Culm continuous and sharply ^-angled; 

 achenium finely reticulated, with a conical flattened distinct tubercle. Shallow- 

 water, New York (outlet of Oneida Lake, A. H. Curtiss) to Michigan and 

 southward : rare. 



2. Spike terete and turgid-ovate, xery much thicker than the slender culm ,- the scales 

 thin-coriaceous or firm-membranaceous and persistent, ovate: style 3-cleft : bristles 



