566 CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



wool rusty or copper-color, only thrice the length of the scale; stamen 1. Bogs 

 and low meadows : common. July, Aug. 



Var. Alburn, with the wool white. Oswego and Jefferson Counties, New 

 York, Dr. Crawe, A. H. Curtiss. 



4. E. polystachyon, L. Culm rigid (1- 2 high), obscurely triangu- 

 lar ; leaves linear, flat, or barely channelled below, triangular at the point ; involucre 

 2-3-leaved; spikes several (4-12), on nodding peduncles, some of them elon- 

 gated in fruit ; achenium obovate; wool white, very straight (!' long or more). 



Var. ANGUSTIF6LIUM (E. angustifolium, Roth, and 'of European botanists, 

 not of American, and the original E. polystachyon of L.) has smooth peduncles. 



Var. LATIF6LIUM (E. latifolium, Hoppe, & E. polystachyon, Torr.,) has 

 rough peduncles, and sometimes broader and flatter leaves. Both are common 

 in bogs, northward ; often with the peduncles obscurely scabrous, . indicating 

 that the species should be left as Linnaus founded it. June, July. (Eu.) 



5. E. gracile, Koch. Culm slender (l-2 high), rather triangular; 

 leaves slender, ckanneUed-triangular, rough on the angles ; involucre short and scale- 

 like, mostly 1 -leaved ; peduncles rough or roughish-pubescent ; achenium ellipti- 

 cal-linear. (E. triquetrum, Hoppe. E. angustifolium, Torr.) Cold bogs, 

 New England to Illinois, and northward. June - Aug. Spikes 3-7, small, 

 when mature the copious white wool 6" -9" long. Scales brownish, several- 

 nerved ; or in our plant, var. PAUCINERVIUM, Engelm., mostly light chestnut- 

 color, and about 3-nervedi (Eu.) 



10. FIMBBlSTYLIS, Vahl. (PI. 3.) 



Spikes several - many-flowered, terete ; the scales all floriferous, regularly im- 

 bricated in several ranks. Perianth (bristles, &c.) none. Stamens 1-3. Style 

 2-3-cleft, often with a dilated or tumid base, which is deciduous (except in No. 

 4) from the apex of the naked lenticular or triangular achenium. Otherwise as 

 in Scirpus. Culms leafy at the base. Spikes in our species umbelled, and the 

 involucre 2-3-leaved. (Name compounded of flmbria, a fringe, and stylus, the 

 style, which is fringed with hairs in the genuine species.) 



1. FIMBRISTYLIS proper. Style 2-cleJl,flat and dilate, falling away, base 

 and all, from the lenticular achenium ; scales of the many-flowered spike closely 

 imbricated. 



1. P. spadicea, Vahl., var. castanea. Culms (i-2high) tufted 



from a perennial root, rigid, as are the thread-form convolute-channelled leaves, 

 smooth; spikes ovate-oblong becoming cylindrical, dark chestnut-color (2" 

 thick) ; stamens 2 or 3 ; achenium very minutely striate and obscurely reticulated. 

 (F. castanea, cylindrica, &c., Vahl.) Salt marshes along the coast, New York 

 to Virginia, and southward. July - Sept. Spikes less dark-colored and scales 

 mostly thinner than in the original Jamaica plant. 



2. F. laxa, Vahl. Culms slender (2'- 12' high) from an annual root, weak, 

 grooved and flattish ; leaves linear, flat, ciliate-denticulate, glaucous, sometimes 

 hairy ; spikes ovate, acute (3" long) ; stamen 1 ; achenium conspicuously 6 - S-ribbed 

 on each side, and with finer cross lines. (F. Baldwiniana, Torr. F. brizoides, 

 Nees, &c.) Low, mostly clayey soil, Penn. to Illinois and southward. July - 

 Sept. Scales broader and less pointed than in F. annua. 



